A new survey by Bayt.com, the number one career site in the Middle East, and YouGov, a pioneer in online market research, entitled ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa Survey2015’ has revealed that half of people living in Kuwait City are either very happy or somewhat happy living in their current city of residence.
Economic Factors
One in four respondents (24%) from Kuwait City believe that the availability of jobs is either good or excellent, while15% believe it is bad. Similarly, around a quarter of respondents in Kuwait City believe that competitive salaries are good-to-excellent.
Other important economic factors in Kuwait include benefits for working parents and reasonably priced amenities.
Labor Rights
Kuwait City was the tenth top-scoring city in the MENA region in terms of labor rights. Respondents from Kuwait City believe that they have good-to-excellent end of service benefits (31%), termination rights (27%), vacation allowances (44%), wage protection system (31%), and health insurance and social security systems (36%).
Environmental Factors
Environmental factors form a set of important aspects related to comfort and cleanliness that affect the overall quality of life in a city. The vast majority of respondents in Kuwait City (53%) say that the cleanliness of their city streets is either good or excellent. Other important environmental factors in Kuwait City include clean water (good-to-excellent:47%) and beauty of the architecture and buildings (good-to-excellent:45%).
Standard of Living
According to a large number of respondents, Kuwait City rate as good-to-excellent on most of the key factors affecting the standard of living. These factors include the feeling of stability and security (good-to-excellent:48%), the availability of healthcare facilities (good-to-excellent:48%), water/electricity/sewage systems (good-to-excellent:68%), and the quality of education (good-to-excellent:41%).
Socio-cultural Factors
The socio-cultural factors are forces within cultures, societies and cities that affect the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals who are a part of them. Important socio-cultural factors in Kuwait City include low crime rates, rated as good-to-excellent by40% of Kuwait City respondents; a stable political environment, rated as good-to-excellent by33% of Kuwait City respondents; and effective law enforcement rated as good and excellent by38% of good-to-excellent.
Other important socio-cultural factors in Kuwait include equal treatment of both genders and tolerance to different cultures and ideas.
Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation
In Kuwait City, respondents ranked the availability of outdoor/sports activities (28%), the culture and arts offerings (25%), and the availability of family-friendly activities (25%) as good or excellent.21% of respondents ranked the availability of natural areas/landscapes as good-to-excellent.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship has an impact on a city’s prosperity, and Kuwait is seeing a nascent propensity amongst respondents for starting a business.
Kuwait City ranked either good or excellent among respondents on the following factors: the ease of starting a new business (15%), lack of bureaucracy in procedures and paperwork (16%), the ease of finding finances to start a business (19%), market willingness to accept new ideas and innovations (32%), ability to find local talent to employ (26%), and affordability of taxes and fees (36%).
Suhail Masri, Vice President of Sales, Bayt.com, said: “As the leading career site in the region, it is our responsibility to showcase the best-performing cities in the region, so that job seekers can make an informed assessment if they are looking to move and employers can do more to contribute to their city’s standard of living and wellbeing.”
Masri continued: “The MENA region is very diverse when it comes to the factors that affect the overall quality of living in each city. At Bayt.com, our mission has always been to empower people with the tools and technologies to build their lifestyle of choice, and we want to empower people with valuable insights into life in cities that they might choose to live in.“
Elissavet Vraka, Research Manager, YouGov, said: “It is through this kind of market research that we are able to provide a profile of cities across the Middle East and North Africa today so that both employers and job seekers gain valuable insights into the various factors that affect the standard of living in their city of choice.”
Data for the Bayt.com ‘Top Cities in the Middle East and North Africa Survey2015’ was collected online from August25th to September6th2015, with the participation of3,613 respondents. The survey polled people from varying nationalities including GCC Arabs, North Africans, Levantines, and Western and Asian expats living in major cities in the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Pakistan.