The 2018 Mercer survey on the quality of living around the world ranked Beirut as the 181st most desirable city for overall living standards among 231 cities worldwide and in 14th place among 22 cities in the Arab world. Also, Beirut ranked in 48th place among 57 cities in upper middle-income countries (UMICs) included in the survey. In comparison, Beirut ranked in 180th place globally and in 14th place regionally in the 2017 survey. Based on the 221 cities that were included in both the 2010 and 2018 surveys, Beirut came in 171st place globally in 2018 and improved by one spot from 172nd place in the 2010 survey. It was among 115 cities whose rank improved, while the rank of 76 cities regressed and that of 30 cities was unchanged between 2010 and 2018.

On a global basis, the quality of living in Beirut is better than in Cotonou in Benin, Maputo in Mozambique and Algiers in Algeria; and is less appealing than in Cairo in Egypt, San Salvador in El Salvador and Blantyre in Malawi. Also, Beirut's quality of living is better than in Algiers, Minsk in Belarus and Havana in Cuba; and is less appealing than in Saint Petersburg in Russia, Tirana in Albania and Almaty in Kazakhstan among UMICs. Vienna has the highest quality of living in the world and Dubai remains the city with the best living standards in the Arab world; while the survey considered Baghdad to be the world's least appealing city in terms of quality of living.