This year’s edition finds that Vienna is the most liveable city in the world, with Copenhagen, Calgary, Zurich and Vancouver rounding out the top five. Overall, Asia-Pacific cities have tumbled in this year’s ranking, with two cities, Osaka and Melbourne (both at 10th), making it to the top 10. This follows a strong performance in last year’s index which saw eight Asia-Pacific cities, including Auckland, Osaka, Adelaide, Tokyo and Wellington, at the top.
Globally, the average liveability index for 2022 shows a significant rebound since last year, as scores for culture, education and healthcare rise in most cities following the lifting of covid-related restrictions. However, the index remains below pre-pandemic levels as stability deteriorates in many cities, owing largely to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While the lifting of lockdowns has seen an uptick in scores across locations tracked by the index, liveability conditions in some eastern European cities have been negatively impacted amid the war in Ukraine.
Vienna has regained its customary position at the top of the EIU’s Global Liveability Index. European and Canadian cities dominate the top ten, while New Zealand and Australian cities, which triumphed last year, have tumbled by comparison.
The average liveability index for 2022 shows a significant rebound since last year, as scores for culture, education and healthcare rise in most cities following the lifting of covid-related restrictions.
However, the index remains below pre-pandemic levels as stability deteriorates in several eastern European cities following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We had to exclude Kiev (Ukraine) from our survey, while Moscow and St Petersburg (Russia) saw their rankings fall.
Overall, Asia-Pacific cities have tumbled in this year’s ranking, with two cities, Osaka and Melbourne (both at 10th), making it to the top 10. This follows a strong performance in last year’s index which saw eight Asia-Pacific cities, including Auckland, Osaka, Adelaide, Tokyo and Wellington, at the top.
We have added 33 new fast-growing business-focused cities to our rankings, one-third of them in China. This brings the total number of cities to 172, excluding Kiev.
This year’s edition of EIU’s Global Liveability Ranking finds that Vienna is the most liveable city in the world, with Copenhagen, Calgary, Zurich and Vancouver rounding out the top five. The Austrian city has rebounded to the top position, as in the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019, scoring highly on all five metrics: education, healthcare, culture and environment, stability and infrastructure. Two other Asia-Pacific cities made the top 10 rankings this year, namely Osaka and Melbourne (tied at 10th place).
Globally, the average index has rebounded to 73.6 (out of 100), up from 69.1 a year ago, as scores for culture and environment, education and healthcare improve. However, the index remains below the average of 75.9 reported just before the pandemic. The scores for infrastructure remain broadly stable, but stability has deteriorated in many cities, owing largely to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Kiev had to be excluded from the rankings, cities in Russia and much of eastern Europe saw their rankings fall sharply. Moscow fell by 15 places, while St Petersburg fell by 13 places.
Wellington (-46) was the biggest faller in the rankings, followed by Auckland (-33). The latter came top in last year’s rankings when New Zealand closed international borders and allowed city life to continue much as normal amid the pandemic. However, with covid restrictions being lifted in much of the world, New Zealand (as well as Australian and Chinese) cities have seen a comparative decline in the rankings. This has allowed well-vaccinated European and Canadian cities to dominate the top ten again, with the German cities of Frankfurt (+32) and Hamburg (+31) being the biggest gainers.
There has been little movement among the bottom ten cities in our rankings. As in previous surveys, living conditions remain worst in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Also scraping along the bottom are Tripoli in Libya, Lagos in Nigeria and Algiers in Algeria. Wars, conflicts and terrorism are the biggest factors reducing liveability in these cities, although Lagos and Algiers have seen their scores lifted slightly as the pandemic eases.
The number of cities in this year’s index has increased from 139 to 172 (excluding Kiev in both these numbers), to match our Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. Many of the new entrants, such as Surabaya (Indonesia) and Chongqing (China), are already fast-growing business destinations. The highest-ranked new city is Rotterdam (Netherlands), at 28.
Upasana Dutt, Head of Liveability Index at EIU said: “The covid-19 pandemic adversely affected global liveability in 2021, but we have seen a marked improvement in most cities in this year’s index with the reopening of shops, restaurants and museums. Education has emerged stronger with children returning to schools alongside a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and healthcare systems. This has allowed the fundamental attractions of cities such as Vienna to reemerge, making it the most liveable city again after 2018 and 2019 when it had topped the rankings.
Looking at Asia, several cities which dominated last year’s index have slipped comparatively in this year’s rankings, amid the global easing of restrictions in well-vaccinated European and Canadian cities.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has undermined stability. Eastern European cities have slipped in rankings amid increased geopolitical risks. Our biggest concern now is the impact that the cost-of-living crisis, including the soaring prices of energy and food, will have on liveability, particularly on stability scores around the world. That may affect the recovery in next year’s index.”