Melbourne keeps top spot in most liveable city rankings

Melbourne has retained its top ranking in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking but terror and unrest have prompted declines in over 20 percent of cities surveyed in the last 12 months.

The ranking, which provides scores for lifestyle challenges in 140 cities worldwide, shows that since 2010 average liveability across the world has fallen by 1 percent, led by a 2.2 percent fall in the score for stability and safety. While this may seem marginal, it highlights that 57 of the cities surveyed have seen declines in liveability over the last five years. Incidences of terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia have been compounded by civil unrest in the US and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Libya and Syria–with war-torn Damascus remaining the least liveable city surveyed.

“The threat to personal safety, whether in the form of crime, unrest or conflict has knock on implications for other aspects of liveability,” said Jon Copestake, Editor of the survey. “Last year, events in Ukraine and the Middle East formed a sobering backdrop to global liveability, but in the last 12 months this has been compounded by protests in the US, sanctions in Russia and shootings in France and Tunisia.”

Melbourne tops the ranking for the fifth year running, followed by Vienna and Vancouver. Further down the ranking, however, changes have been much more noticeable. US cities in particular have seen declines based on spikes in crime and widespread protests following the deaths of a number of black Americans in police custody. Protests were also at the heart of a decline in liveability in Hong Kong over the last 12 months.

Meanwhile, a number of incidents in France, including the January attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo have affected the scores of Paris. Tunis, the Tunisian capital, has also seen declines, as has Tripoli in neighbouring Libya, which has collapsed into civil war.

In Athens it is the impact of austerity rather than unrest that has weighed on the provision of public services. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, saw the sharpest fall over the last 12 months and is now among the ten least liveable cities ranked, while the fallout of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine is also being felt in Russia as a result of ongoing sanctions and boycotts from international artists.

Seven cities did buck the trend by registering improvements in scores in the last 12 months. Chinese cities in particular saw improvements after a period of stability following unrest in 2012.