Auckland in New Zealand has topped the ranking in the 2021 EIU's annual world's most liveable city survey. Classifying 140 cities across five categories including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, this year’s edition of the review has been highly affected by the global pandemic. Australia, Japan, and New Zealand took leading positions, while European and Canadian cities fell down the ranking.
In the 2021 Global Liveability Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), six of the top ten cities are in New Zealand or Australia, “where tight border controls have allowed residents to live relatively normal lives”, during the covid-19 pandemic. Auckland topped the assessment, due to its “successful approach in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, which allowed its society to remain open and the city to score strongly”. It was followed by Osaka in Japan, Adelaide in Australia, Wellington in New Zealand, and Tokyo in Japan.
The only European country that made it to the top 10, is Switzerland with Zurich and Geneva ranking in seventh and eighth positions, mainly because many European cities have “battled the second Covid-19 wave by restricting cultural and sporting events, and closing schools and restaurants”, imposing lockdowns that hurt their performance. Vienna, capital of Austria, occupied the top spot throughout 2018-20 but has slipped down to 12th place for the current survey, following the second Covid-19 wave, according to EIU, and German cities such as Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf have seen the biggest falls in ranking.
While Canadian cities such as Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto, have slipped down the classification, several US cities, including Honolulu and Houston, have bounced up the rankings over the past six months as social restrictions have lifted. In addition, according to the survey, while the top positions shifted drastically, “the lower end of the rankings has seen less change, with the Syrian capital, Damascus, still the least liveable city in the world”.
Check the ranking below of the world's most liveable cities in 2021.
Ten of the most liveable cities in 2021
1- Auckland, New Zealand
2- Osaka, Japan
3- Adelaide, Australia
4- Wellington, New Zealand
5- Tokyo, Japan
6- Perth, Australia
7- Zurich, Switzerland
8- Geneva, Switzerland
9- Melbourne, Australia
10- Brisbane, Australia
Read below for the world's least liveable cities in 2021.
Ten of the least liveable cities in 2021
- Damascus, Syria
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Port Moresby, PNG
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Algiers, Algeria
- Tripoli, Libya
- Karachi, Pakistan
- Harare, Zimbabwe
- Douala, Cameroon
- Caracas, Venezuela
Info via BBC.
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