Most Livable Cities: 2023 Rankings Are In | CNN

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It is nicknamed the “city of dreams”, and it seems that the Austrian capital may be a dream place to live.

The ranking of the most livable cities in the world for 2023 has just been published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and Vienna has once again occupied the first place.

The EIU, a sister organization of The Economistranked 173 cities around the world on a number of important factors, including healthcare, education, stability, infrastructure, and the environment.

Vienna maintained its top spot in the EIU Global Livability Index, earning praise for its reliable infrastructure, outstanding culture and entertainment, and impeccable health and education services.

The city, which has held the top position several times over the years, was closely followed by Denmark’s Copenhagen, which retained its second place.

While Australia’s Melbourne and Sydney had slipped down the list in recent years, with Sydney recently falling out of the top 10 and Melbourne tying for 10th with Japan’s Osaka in 2022, both have moved back up, sitting third and fourth. respectively.

Canada was well represented this year, with three of its cities – Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto – taking a place in the top 10.

Meanwhile, Switzerland received two top-10 entries, with Zurich ranking sixth and Geneva tying for seventh with Calgary.

Osaka, which saw a small boost in its culture and environment ratings due to the removal of Covid-related restrictions, rounds out the top 10.

“The removal of covid-related restrictions overall bodes well for global livability in 2023,” Upasana Dutt, director of the EIU’s livability index, said in a statement.

“Education has been strengthened with the return of children to schools along with a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and health care systems, with some notable improvements in cities in developing Asia and the Middle East.

“As the world’s political and economic axis continues to shift eastward, we expect cities in these regions to slowly move up our livability rankings.”

movers and shakers

Although Europe had a strong performance at the top of the list, European destinations also dominated the list of cities that suffered the biggest drops in the ranking this year.

The UK’s capital London and Sweden’s capital Stockholm found themselves slipping down the rankings, with the former dropping 12 places to 46th place and the latter dropping 22 places to 43rd place.

And after entering the livability survey for the first time in 2022 at 35th, Scotland’s capital Edinburgh has slipped to 58th this year.

“None of these cities have seen a particularly steep decline in their index scores, but they did not make the gains that many other cities, particularly those in Asia, have made in the past year,” the report reads.

The average index score across 172 cities (eliminating Kyiv in Ukraine) has now reached 76.2 out of 100, the highest score in 15 years.

According to the report, scores for healthcare have improved the most, while those for education, culture and entertainment, and infrastructure are also higher.

However, stability has suffered a “marginal” decline due to “instances of civil unrest in many cities amid a cost-of-living crisis, as well as an increase in crime in some cities.”

“Of the five categories covered by our index, only stability has seen a decline,” says Barsali. Bhattacharyya, Industry Research Manager, EIU.

“Public order strains and economic obstacles have also increased crime in some cities, and this will continue to be a risk for the future.

“All of this suggests that the stability scores on our livability index are unlikely to recover quickly.”

Honolulu, the largest city in Hawaii, was the highest US entry, ranking 25th.

The popular destination, home to the famous Waikiki beach, has moved up six spots this year thanks to improvements in healthcare scores, “in part due to the removal of covid-related stress on its healthcare system.”

However, other US cities, San Diego, which ranked 61st on the list, and Los Angeles, which ranked 57th, dropped 17 places.

There was little change at the bottom of the list this year, with those cities plagued by civil unrest and ongoing military conflict, among other issues, scoring the lowest.

Algiers in Algeria, Tripoli in Libya and Damascus in Syria were ranked as the top three least liveable cities in the world.

Damascus, consistently one of the lowest-ranking cities in the survey, has seen no improvement in its livability scores this year.

However, the Ukrainian city of Kiev, which was not on the 2022 list due to Russia’s invasion in February 2022, fell on the list this year as a direct result of the impact of the war, and is now among the top 10 cities. least habitable in the world. world.

“The war in Ukraine and the resulting economic and political disruption are affecting livability in many European cities,” the report reads.

“Unsurprisingly, this is most notable in the Ukrainian capital kyiv, which rejoins the survey this year.”

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

3.Melbourne, Australia

4. Sydney, Australia

5.Vancouver, Canada

6. Zurich, Switzerland

7.Calgary, Canada

7. Geneva, Switzerland

9. Toronto, Canada

10. Osaka, Japan