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World's most liveable city

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Catherine Deshayes

The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2009 Liveability survey has ranked the liveability of 140 of the world's major centres - and whilst Australian cities put up a valiant battle, nabbing five of the top 20 places - it was Vancouver in Canada that reigned supreme as the world's most liveable city...

The survey assessed 140 cities based on stability, health care, education, infrastructure and culture and environment, giving each one a rating out of 100.

Canada triumphed, with Vancouver nabbing the top spot and Toronto taking fourth place and Montreal 17^th.

Australian cities also performed well, with Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane amongst the cities ranked highly. That long standing rivalry between Sydneysiders and Melbournites is about to get even more heated as the rankings hit home - Melbourne nabbed third place whilst Sydney had to settle for ninth.

The Economist Intelligence Unit's survey comes just two months after another quality of living survey covering 215 cities placed the New Zealand cities of Auckland 4th (equal with Vancouver) and Wellington 12th.

The Mercer 2009 Quality of Living survey was based on criteria including political, social, economic and environmental factors.

The Economist survey placed Auckland and Wellington in 12th and 23rd respectively.

US centres were well down the list. Pittsburgh ranked highest, in 29th place.

The highest-ranked Asian city was Osaka in Japan (13th). The next highest was Hong Kong (equal 39th with Madrid, Spain) followed by Singapore (54th) and Seoul, South Korea (58th).

European cities nabbed four of the top ten places, with Vienna, Austria in second; Helsinki, Finland in seventh; Geneva, Switzerland in eighth and Zurich sharing ninth place with Sydney.

Harare, the strife-torn capital of Zimbabwe, was ranked the worst city to live in.

EIU Spokesman Jon Copestake said, "The performance of Asian cities reflects the diverse levels of development throughout the region.

"Australian cities represent many of the best aspects of liveability, while instability in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh means that cities in South Asia fare much worse," he added.

Top 10 cities to live in according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's survey:

1. Vancouver, Canada
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Perth, Australia and
Calgary, Canada
7. Helsinki, Finland
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Sydney, Australia and
Zurich, Switzerland