Vancouver is the world’s best place to live, a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has found. The EIU ranked 127 cities in terms of personal risk, infrastructure and the availability of goods and services.
Most of the cities that fell into the top “liveability” bracket were based in Western Europe and North America.
The worst places were Algiers in Algeria, and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea because “many aspects of daily life present challenges”, the EIU said.
Canadian cities scored well, as did Austria’s Vienna and Switzerland’s Geneva, because they are not seen as targets for terror attacks.
Top group
Vancouver
Melbourne
Vienna
Geneva
Perth
Adelaide
Sydney
Zurich
Toronto
Calgary
Source: EIU
The main uncertainty for people living in the those cities are climate-related, the EIU said.
“In the current global political climate, it is no surprise that the most desirable destinations are those with the lower perceived threat of terrorism,” said Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU report.
The survey has produced a mixed picture of the world’s cities. London was ranked in the 10th group, on a par with Dublin and Los Angeles, but one place below Manchester, four behind Berlin, five lower than Tokyo, and six off Helsinki, Frankfurt and Stockholm.
Bottom 10 cities
Tehran
Douala
Harare
Abidjan
Phnom Penh
Lagos
Karachi
Dhaka
Algiers
Port Moresby
Source: EIU
In Latin America, “no city manages to present ideal living conditions, neither do any fall into the category where extreme difficulties are faced”, the EIU said.
Montevideo in Uruguay, Santiago in Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina offer the region’s best conditions. Bogota in Columbia and Caracas in Venezuela score the least favourably.
In Asia, cities in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan all score well, as do Australia’s main hubs.
Africa and the Middle East fare less well, with the EIU citing concerns about terror attacks, and economic and political instability.
Some of the worst performing cities include Harare in Zimbabwe and Lagos in Nigeria.
