Which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions?
A report has been published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU Report 2012 (by the Economist). The rating is calculated by a liveability score of 140 cities, reached through category weights. The categories are stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Most Liveable Cities in the World – Top 10
1. Melbourne – Australia
2. Vienna – Austria
3. Vancouver – Canada
4. Toronto – Canada
5. Calgary – Canada
6. Adelaide – Australia
7. Sydney – Australia
8. Helsinki – Finland
9. Perth – Australia
10. Auckland – New Zealand
Global business centres such as New York, London, Paris and Tokyo have overstretched infrastructure and all suffer from higher levels of crime, congestion and public transport problems than would be deemed “comfortable”.
Civil unrest such as the Arab Spring, civil war in Libya, unrest in Greece and London had impacts on the score, with downward revisions to Athens, London, Amman (Muscat), Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Douala (Cameroon) and Tripoli (Libya).
Worst Cities to Live in the World
131. Abidjan – Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan
132 Tehran – Iran
133. Douala – Cameroon
134. Tripoli – Libya
135. Karachi – Pakistan
136. Algiers – Algeria
137. Harare – Zimbabwe
138. Lagos – Nigeria
139. Port Moresby – PNG
140. Dhaka – Bangladesh
Conflict is responsible for many of the lowest scores. Africa (North and Sub-Saharan) and Asia account for all the cities with lowest scores, with violence, whether through crime, civil insurgency, terrorism or war, playing a strong role. Dhaka in Bangladesh is the least liveable city, unchanged from last year, 2011. However the survey does not include locations such as Kabul in Afghanistan and Baghdad in Iraq.