Vienna Named World’s Most Liveable City
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (The EIU) Global Liveability Index has named Vienna as the world’s most liveable city in 2022. The EIU’s liveability survey looks at cities across the globe and ranks them for best and worst living conditions. Vienna, which was ranked as the most liveable city in both 2018 and 2019, is joined in the top ten by five other European cities, Copenhagen in Denmark, Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland, Frankfurt in Germany and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
An overview of the survey from the EIU says Vienna’s move back into top position following a fall to 12th place during the pandemic is due to the lifting of lock-downs and a return to normal life combined with stability, good infrastructure, access to healthcare and cultural and entertainment opportunities.
Overall, Western European and Canadian cities dominate the rankings due to the removal of Covid restrictions and high vaccination levels. Copenhagen has moved up 13 places from its position 12 months ago, to second and Zurich now shares third place with Calgary in Canada.
Cities in Eastern Europe have experienced a fall in rankings due to geopolitical risks and according to the EIU, ‘If the cost-of-living crisis were to trigger further discord in international ties or domestic politics, stability scores would be likely to slide further for such cities next year.’ Warsaw in Poland and Budapest in Hungary experienced slips in their stability scores amid raised diplomatic tensions.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia also led to the exclusion of Kiev from the survey and negatively impacted the rankings of both Moscow and St. Petersburg with both cities suffering due to a rise in instability, the imposition of sanctions by western countries and the withdrawal of international corporates from the cities.
Overall, the global average liveability score has recovered well since the Covid pandemic. According to the authors of the report, the score now stands at 73.6 out of 100, up from 69.1 a year ago. However, this is still lower than the average of 75.9 reported before the pandemic. Of the five categories surveyed, the main improvements over the past year have been in culture and environment, education, and healthcare, all of which were badly affected by lockdowns. The scores for infrastructure remain broadly stable, while stability has deteriorated.
At the bottom of the index for cities with worst conditions to live in are Damascus in Syria, Lagos in Nigeria and Tripoli in Libya.
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