Top 5 Facts: Best and Worst Cities to Live In

Although the United Kingdom, France, and the USA are undoubtedly major players in the global economy and feature some of the most “impressive” cities in the world, none of them managed to crack the top 10. New York, London, Paris, Poughkeepsie, you name it! Nothing! One of the biggest factors was the threat of terrorism, which weighs heavy on Western Europe and the US. This hugely drove down the surveyed stability rank, as did the recent migrant crisis. The EIU report stated that civil unrest has grown in the US due to several factors, including the deaths of several African-Americans at the hands of police officers and several of President Trump’s policies resulting in massive protests.

Forget about fancy buildings and nightlife. Of the top 10 most liveable cities in the world, eight had a perfect survey score in education, while 9 held a perfect score in healthcare. A common factor throughout almost all the top 10 was population size and density. Massive cities with dense populations weigh down the infrastructure score, and lead to higher rates of crime, where as medium sized cities in wealthy countries with spread out populations allow for a more comfortable lifestyle.

On the other hand, the dominant issue in the bottom 10 cities was conflict, as civil unrest, terrorism and war drag down their scores. The simple fact is that while conflict affects stability the most, it also has a ripple effect on other things, such as the economy, infrastructure, goods, services and health care – all of which can lead to higher crime rates and more.

Ukraine’s Kiev was the only European city to rank in the bottom 10, with civil unrest and ongoing conflict in the Donbas region resulting in a low stability rank. Ranks 9 and 8 went to Douala, Cameroon and Harare, Zimbabwe, thanks to the lowest healthcare scores in the bottom 10. Although scoring relatively high in Education and Infrastructure, Pakistan’s Karachi tied with Algeria’s Algiers in the next 2 slots. Port Moresby of Papa New Guinea and Dhaka of Bangladesh all had progressively low infrastructure and healthcare scores, earning them places at 5 and 4. The threat of the Islamic State resulted in Tripoli, Libya placing at number 3, while the threat from Boko Haram gave Lagos, Nigeria the lowest stability score of all 140 countries, and a place as the second least liveable city. And as the civil war continues in Syria, its capital Damascus takes the top spot as the planet’s most unliveable city.

At number 10, Germany’s Hamburg kicked off the list, and although it scored higher than number 9 with culture and environment as well as had a perfect infrastructure score, Helsinki, Finalnd scored higher in terms of stability. At 8 was Auckland, New Zealand with Perth, Australia just creeping ahead at 7 thanks to Auckland’s lower health care score. The next 2 spots were a tie between Adelaide, Australia and Calgary, Canada. But that wasn’t Canada’s only city in the top 5. In fact, the country continued had Toronto taking 4th place, and Vancouver coming in at number 3. As its third and highest city in the top 10, Vancouver beat Toronto’s superior stability with a perfect score in Culture and Environment. Then it really came down to the wire for the top 2. Out of an overall score of 100, Vienna, Austria took the second spot with an overall rating of 97.4, while Melbourne, Australia just took the top spot with a 97.5 - thanks to a better score for culture and environment.