The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is out with its annual ranking of the world’s most livable cities — and the top 10 list (actually, due to ties, it’s a top 11 list) is dominated by Australia and Canada, with the United States shut out. The winners are based on “30 factors spread across five areas: stability, infrastructure, education health care and environment.”
No. 1 according to this metric: Melbourne, Australia — just as it was last year.
“Those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density,” according to the report. “These can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure.”
Officials of the city of more than 4 million were not modest.
“Melbourne has the best of everything and this title proves it,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (For those who don’t know: Victoria is the Australian state in which Melbourne is located.)
The most livable cities:
1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, British Columbia
4. Toronto
5. Calgary, Alberta
6. (Since two are tied for fifth there is no sixth.)
7. Sydney
8. Perth, Australia
9. Auckland, New Zealand
10. A tie: Helsinki, Finland and Zurich, Switzerland.
Yet while these far northern and Southern climes garnered high praise from the EIU, there was trouble in the middle latitudes as the report noted “a deterioration in stability in many cities around the world.”
“Civil unrest, acts of terror and violence have triggered stability declines around the world,” the EIU wrote. “Highprofile terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia, and the ongoing actions of Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East have created a further heightened threat of terrorism in many countries. Meanwhile, protests over matters like police brutality, democracy and austerity have also raised the threat of civil unrest in many countries, notably the US where the deaths of a number of black people in police custody have led to widespread protests and accusations of racism.
Terrorists who claim links to Islam indeed did seem to affect many of the cities near the bottom of the rankings. The five least livable cities:
136. Tripoli, Libya
137. Lagos, Nigeria
138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
139. Dhaka, Bangladesh
140. Damascus, Syria