Posted on 08/12/2022 7:09:53 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pandemic restrictions changed the livability of many urban centers worldwide as cultural sites were shuttered, restaurant dining was restricted, and local economies faced the consequences. But as cities worldwide return to the status quo, many of these urban centers have become desirable places to live yet again.
As Visual Capitalist's Avery Koop notes, this map uses annual rankings from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to show the world’s most livable cities, measuring different categories including: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
The ranking attempts to assess which cities across the globe provide the best living conditions, by assigning a score on 30 quantitative and qualitative measures across the five categories with the following weightings:
Of the 30 factors within these categories, the qualitative ones are assigned as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable, or intolerable by a team of expert analysts. Quantitative measures are given a score based on a number of external data points. Everything is then weighted to provide a score between 1-100, with 100 being the ideal.
Of the 172 cities included in the rankings, many of the most livable cities can be found in Europe. However, three of the top 10 are located in Canada: Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto.
Vienna has been ranked number one many times, most recently in 2019. According to the EIU, the Austrian capital only fell out of the top slot during the pandemic years because its famous museums and restaurants were shuttered.
Only one Asian city, Osaka, makes the top 10 list, tying with Melbourne for 10th place. Notably, not a single U.S. city is found in the top ranks.
Editor’s note: Two cities tie for both the #3 and #10 ranks, meaning that the “top 10” list actually includes 12 cities.
Some of the least livable cities in the world are located across Africa and Central Asia.
Many of the least livable cities are within conflict zones, contributing to the low ratings. However, these regions are also home to some of the world’s fastest growing cities, presenting many opportunities for ambitious residents.
Let’s take a look at the cities that moved up the global rankings most dramatically compared to last year’s data.
Moving Up: The 10 Most Improved Cities
Here’s a look at the cities that fell the most in the rankings since last year’s report.
Moving Down: The 10 Cities That Tumbled
According to the report, a number of cities in New Zealand and Australia temporarily dropped in the ranking due to COVID-19 restrictions.
It’s also worth noting that some Eastern European cities moved down in the rankings because of their close proximity to the war in Ukraine. Finally, Kyiv was not included in this year’s report because of the conflict.
As of 2021, around 57% of the world’s population lives in urban centers and projections show that people worldwide will continue to move into cities.
While there are more amenities in urban areas, the pandemic revealed many issues with urbanization and the concentration of large populations. The stress on healthcare systems is felt most intensely in cities and restrictions on public outings are some of the first measures to be introduced in the face of a global health crisis.
Now with the cost of living rising, cities may face pressures on their quality of life, and governments may be forced to cut spending on public services. Regardless, people worldwide continue to see the benefits of city living—it’s projected that over two-thirds of the global population will live in cities by 2050.
I must say that Warsaw is probably the most underrated city on the planet. It’s clean, easy to get around in, parks everywhere, great restaurants. It’s not as touristy as say, Prague, but that’s actually a good thing.
LA has improved? If you are a street crapping bum, maybe
Live where you want. There is more to life than a poll...
I’d put Lisbon in the top group.
Los Angeles is a large homeless encampment, not a city.
Baltimore, Camden, and Trenton are missing from the worst cities list.
When you dig into the internals, I bet you will find the ratings are heavily weighted toward socialist governments.
Wait till they’re freezing in the dark in Vienna, Copenhagen, Frankfurt and Amsterdam this winter.
OK lefties, pack your bags and git.
Isn’t Vancouver overrun with the “walking dead”? Spare change? You got some money for my dinner?
Notice the first criteria on the list, healthcare. All of these "polls" written by lefty journalists crap on the U.S. because we don't have socialized healthcare. They invariably list european or canadian cities as having the best quality of life because of that. Canadians, however, routinely come to the U.S. for healthcare because of the deficiencies of their own healthcare, for example the premier of Newfoundland a few years ago who opted to have his heart surgery in the U.S. because he wanted the best care.
Yes, American healthcare is expensive. However, it's also where the best healthcare can be found which is why the world's richest come here instead of Canada or Europe when they have serious health issues. Leftists equate socialist healthcare with "best" when it's anything but.
Yep. Three Canadian cities on the positive list.
The Chinese bought up so much property in Vancouver the prices became unaffordable for regular people
Agreed, Port au Prince Haiti is so bad nobody wanted to visit to even make an assessment.
Los Angeles is on the moving up list BS LOL, LOL, LOL, OMG they obviously haven’t set foot in the city!!!
I blame the equator.
Any city should be on the most unlivable list. They’re all shxtholes.
“The Chinese bought up so much property in Vancouver the prices became unaffordable for regular people”
Even the “regular people” that already own homes will be squeezed by the increase in property taxes that’ll be hitting because of the increased property values. I’m not sure how it works in Canada, but I’m expecting a significant bump in tax values and property taxes in the next year or two (here in NC).
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