Not only is Vienna regarded as one of the most picturesque cities on earth, but it also appears to be an excellent spot to call home.
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According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual ranking, which was made public today, the Austrian city has once again been named the world’s most liveable city.
Sibling publication of The Economist, The EIU, rated 173 cities worldwide based on several important criteria, such as infrastructure, education, stability, culture and environment, and health care.
With “perfect” ratings in four of the five categories, Vienna topped the list for the third year in a row. Only the environment and culture categories received a lesser rating because of the city’s apparent dearth of major athletic events.
Perfect ratings
Denmark’s Copenhagen held its second-place ranking, just behind the Austrian capital, while Switzerland’s Zurich rose from sixth to third on the ranking.
Melbourne, Australia dropped from third to fourth position, and Calgary, Canada, matched with Geneva, Switzerland, for fifth place.
Together in seventh position were Vancouver, Canada, and Sydney, Australia; in equal ninth place, Osaka, Japan, and Auckland, New Zealand, completed the top ten.
The region suffered a fall in stability scores overall, which was ascribed to “increasing instances of disruptive protests” and criminality, despite Western Europe performing well, with 30 cities receiving an average score of 92 out of 100.
Honolulu, Hawaii, ranked 23rd on the list of US cities, while Atlanta, Georgia, rose four spots to rank 29.
New York ranked 70th on the list, and Los Angeles was much lower, in 58th place.
Acute homelessness
North America’s average score for education was highest. But because of “an acute housing crisis” that has impacted multiple regions, Canada’s infrastructure scores were worse than they were the year before.
“The situation is particularly worrying in Australia and Canada, where the availability of rental properties is at an all-time low and purchase prices have continued to rise despite interest-rate increases.” Toronto, which was ranked ninth in 2023, slid out of the top 10 to rank twelve, and Vancouver reversed course while staying in the top 10.
In the world’s rankings, London, the capital of the United Kingdom, comes in at number 45.
Asia’s highest score gain over the previous year was in Hong Kong, which moved up from 61st to 50th position as a result of improvements in its stability and health care rankings.
This year, UAE cities experienced some of the largest score improvements; Abu Dhabi and Dubai topped the list, and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar all witnessed notable rises.
The Israel-Hamas conflict caused Israel’s Tel Aviv to fall 20 spots to 112th position, one of the largest drops in the country.
Decrease in stability
“Global liveability has risen fractionally over the past year but risks to stability remain,” told Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU.
“Still-high inflation accompanied by high interest rates and other economic headwinds led to another year of frequent protests across the world.”
The least livable city in the world, Damascus, Syria, continued to be at the bottom of the list, with Lagos, Nigeria, Tripoli, Libya, and Algiers, Algeria, placing slightly higher.
According to the report, since 2023, the total score of none of the bottom four cities has improved. “Since we conducted our survey, there have been more instances of civil unrest and demonstrations around the world, such as the campus protests across the US, suggesting continuing stress on livability that is unlikely to ease in the near future,” added Bhattacharyya.
The top 10 on the 2024 Global Livability Index
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
