A European city has secured the top spot for the third year running.
In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual Global Liveability Index, 173 cities are examined and evaluated using 30 factors across five broad categories. The goal is to see how comfortable it is to live in these places.
For the third year in a row, Vienna, Austria claimed the top spot. According to the EIU, Vienna received perfect scores in four out of five categories—stability, healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
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The only category the city didn’t perfect was culture and environment, where it was marked lower for a lack of significant sporting events. Even so, Vienna is still a culturally rich city, home to classical music and world-class museums.
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Right behind Vienna, two more European cities made it near the top of the list. Copenhagen came in at number two while Zürich placed third. This is also the Danish capital’s third consecutive year in second place.
Melbourne, Australia placed fourth, dropping one spot from last year’s report. The rest of the list has several ties between some cities, including Calgary and Geneva (tied for fifth), Sydney and Vancouver (tied for seventh), and Osaka and Auckland (tied for ninth).
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For the United States, Honolulu in Hawaii placed the highest in the list at 23. Atlanta, Georgia moved up four places to 29. Major American cities such as Los Angeles and New York placed 58 and 70 respectively.
In Asia, Hong Kong made the biggest leap in the ranks. The city climbed from 61st place to 50th, after seeing improvements in its stability and healthcare scores. However, in the EIU’s separately published Democracy Index, the city’s score dropped.
Cities in the United Arab Emirates, such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai, also saw significantly increased scores. Both cities scored highly on stability, infrastructure, and education, showing improvements in their overall ratings.
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In the study, Western Europe was found to be the most liveable region with eight cities in the top 20. The region also had 30 cities scoring an average score of 92. However, they also saw a decline in stability scores due to “increasing instances of disruptive protests” and crime.
“Global liveability has risen fractionally over the past year but risks to stability remain,” Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU, told Forbes.
“Overall, cities across the developing world have significant strides in improving their liveability standards, while those in rich countries have seen a decline in scores.”
Banner photo by Radubradu via Pexels.
