Vienna, Austria, is once again the most liveable city in the world, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Global Liveability Index 2023 attributes Vienna’s success to its “winning combination” of stability, good culture and recreation, reliable infrastructure, exemplary education and health services.
“Over the past few years, it has regularly held the position, with only the Covid-19 pandemic causing the city to vacate the top spot,” the report added.
Copenhagen also maintained its position as the world’s second most liveable city, while Australian cities Sydney and Melbourne rounded out the top five.
“Their scores in the healthcare category have improved since last year, when they were still reeling from the Covid wave that was stressing the healthcare system,” the research firm said.
The annual report rates 172 cities that define liveability: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
The index rose to a 15-year high last year as the world recovered from the pandemic, the EIU said. The average index score is now 76.2 out of 100, up from 73.2 a year ago.
10 best cities to live in
- Vienna, Austria)
- Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Melbourne (Australia)
- Sydney, Australia)
- Vancouver (Canada)
- Zurich (Switzerland)
- Calgary (Canada)
- Geneva, Switzerland)
- Toronto (Canada)
- Osaka (Japan), Auckland (New Zealand) – tie
Big moves in Asia-Pacific cities
According to the EIU, Asia-Pacific cities have made some of the biggest gains in this year’s rankings – taking eight of the top 10 positions.
It added that this could be attributed to a “shift to normality” in the wake of the pandemic.
Notably, New Zealand’s Wellington rose 35 places to 23rd, while Auckland climbed 25 places to 10th in the index – a drop last year when Covid-19 forced intermittent lockdowns.
Hong Kong also climbed 13 places to become the 61st most liveable city in the world.
“Hong Kong has changed quite a lot,” said EIU senior analyst Syetarn Hansakul.
“It’s because of the removal of Covid restrictions that have dramatically improved the quality of life and liveability in Hong Kong last year,” she told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Thursday.
The rest of the world steadily reopened early last year — but Hong Kong follows mainland China’s strict zero-coronavirus policy and will not start easing some restrictions until late 2022.
The EIU noted that developing economies in Asia and the Middle East also saw significant improvements in their education and health care scores.
“As children return to school, education becomes stronger, while the burden on hospitals and the healthcare system is greatly reduced,” the report said.
Stability score drops
While scores for healthcare, education, infrastructure, culture and recreation have improved over the past year, there has been a “small decline” in stability, the EIU said.
that’s because Civil unrest has broken out in many cities amid a cost of living crisis and rising crime in some cities.
The EIU added that cities in Western Europe, in particular, slipped in the rankings due to an increase in incidents of worker strikes – failing to “catch up” with the gains made by cities in Asia and the Middle East.
For example, Frankfurt in Germany and Amsterdam in the Netherlands both fell out of the top ten.
