The Austrian city of Vienna has been crowned, once again, as the best city in the world to live in according to the annual list of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), released on Wednesday (26). In addition, it is considered one of the most beautiful cities to visit.
The EIU, a sister organization to The Economist magazine, ranked the quality of life of 173 cities around the world, considering a range of significant factors including healthcare, culture, environment, stability, infrastructure and education.
Vienna topped the list for the third year in a row, receiving “perfect” scores in four of the five categories — the city scored lower in culture and environment due to the apparent lack of significant sporting events .
Perfect scores
Just behind the Austrian capital, Copenhagen, Denmark, maintained second place while Zurich, Switzerland, rose from sixth to third place on the list.
Melbourne, Australia, dropped from third to fourth place, while the Canadian city of Calgary tied with the Swiss city of Geneva for fifth place.
Vancouver, Canada, and Sydney, Australia, tied for seventh place, while Osaka, Japan, and Auckland, New Zealand, rounded out the top 10 in joint ninth place.
While Western Europe performed well, with 30 cities achieving an average score of 92 out of 100, the region saw an overall decline in political stability scores, attributed to “rising disruptive protests” and crime.
At 23rd, Honolulu, Hawaii, was the highest-ranked US city on the list, while Atlanta, Georgia, moved up four places to number 29. Los Angeles was further down the list at 58th, while New York City came in at 70th.
‘Acute housing crisis’
North America achieved the highest average score for education. However, infrastructure scores were lower than the previous year in Canada due to “an acute housing crisis” that affected several regions.
“The situation is particularly worrying in Australia and Canada, where rental housing availability is at a low ebb and purchase prices have continued to rise despite rising interest rates,” the report said.
Vancouver dropped back, remaining in the top 10, while Toronto (ninth on the 2023 list) dropped out of the top 10, coming in at 12th.
The UK capital London has been ranked the 45th most liveable city in the world.
In Asia, Hong Kong saw the biggest improvement in its score since last year, rising from 61st place to 50th thanks to an improvement in stability and healthcare.
Cities in the United Arab Emirates saw some of the biggest score increases this year, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai moving up the list, and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar also recording significant gains.
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv in Israel saw one of the biggest drops, falling 20 places to 112th due to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Decline in stability
Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy director of industry at the EIU, said: “Global liveability has increased slightly over the past year, but risks to stability remain.”
“There is still high inflation accompanied by high interest rates and other economic issues that have led to another year of frequent protests around the world.”
There was little change at the bottom of the list, with Damascus, Syria, still considered the least habitable city in the world followed by Tripoli in Libya, Algiers in Algeria, and Lagos in Nigeria.
The study noted that none of the bottom four cities saw any improvement in their overall score since 2023.
“Since we conducted our research, there have been more demonstrations around the world, such as the protests on college campuses in the US, suggesting ongoing stress on habitability that is unlikely to ease any time soon,” Bhattacharyya said.
Global Liveability Index 2024: Top 10
1. Vienna, Austria
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Melbourne, Australia
5. Calgary, Canada
5. Geneva, Switzerland
7. Sydney, Australia
7. Vancouver, Canada
9. Osaka, Japan
9. Auckland, New Zealand
Source: CNN Brasil
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