Vienna ranked as the most liveable city

Vienna has been named the most liveable city out of 173 in the world.

The Austrian capital has occupied the top spot in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index regularly over the past several years. It slipped in the 2021 ranking but rebounded to the top position in 2022 and retained its place this year.

The Index is based on 30 factors in five categories: stability, healthcare, education, culture and environment, and infrastructure.

Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig said: “The frequent top rankings prove that Vienna is a well-functioning city, based on sound policy decisions that is ready for the future.

“Everyone in our city benefits from the high quality of life, the stability, and the reliable infrastructure. These achievements are not least to the credit of everyone who works for this city every day.”

Copenhagen in Denmark retained second place from last year. Melbourne and Sydney in Australia took third and fourth place, followed by Vancouver, Canada in fifth. Other top cities are: Zurich (Switzerland), Calgary (Canada), Geneva (Switzerland), Toronto (Canada), Osaka (Japan), and Auckland (New Zealand).

Overall, the average index score reached 76.2 out of 100, up from 73.2 a year ago and the highest in 15 years. Healthcare scores have improved the most, with smaller gains for education, culture and entertainment, and infrastructure. Only stability has seen a small decline, reflecting civil unrest, strikes and a cost-of-living crisis in some places, as well as an uptick in crime in certain cities.

Movers

In this year’s index, Asia-Pacific cities made some of the biggest gains, accounting for eight of the top ten movers up the rankings. EIU puts this down to a “shift towards normalcy after the pandemic”. Wellington, New Zealand rose 35 places to 23rd place, and Auckland by 25, while Hanoi, Vietnam moved up 20 spots.

The Middle East also saw the average level of liveability improve, largely owing to strong gains in healthcare and education ratings.

“The removal of Covid-related restrictions has overall boded well for global liveability in 2023,” said Upasana Dutt, Head of the Liveability Index at EIU.

“Education has emerged stronger with children returning to schools alongside a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and healthcare systems, with some notable improvements in cities across developing economies of Asia and the Middle East.

“As the world’s political and economic axis continues to shift eastwards, we expect the cities in these regions to move slowly up our liveability rankings.”

Losing ground

European cities dominate the list of the top ten fallers down the rankings, which also includes two US cities – San Diego and Los Angeles. Edinburgh in the UK which entered the liveability survey for the first time in 2022 in 35th position fell to 58th, while Stockholm, Sweden fell 22 places. Los Angeles and San Diego both fell by 17 places.

According to EIU: “These cities have not seen a particularly sharp decline in their index scores, but they have failed to make the gains that many other cities have made in the past year. As a result, they have been overtaken in the rankings.”

Damascus (Syria), Tripoli (Libya), Algiers (Algeria), Lagos (Nigeria) and Karachi (Pakistan) were ranked as the least liveable cities.