Would you like to live in the most comfortable city in the world? Then do not look towards the USA, because the best cities are located in completely different countries. This follows from the annual report of The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), published in August 2018.
Employees of The Economist magazine rated the largest and medium-sized cities on Earth on a scale of 0 (the least liveable city) to 100 (the most liveable city). The Global Liveability Economist uses 30 indicators to measure five categories of liveability:
- stability (this includes data on crime rates, unrest and terrorist attacks);
- healthcare
- culture and environment (from weather to the level of service in local restaurants);
- education;
- infrastructure.
Here are the winners in the top ten the most comfortable cities to live in 2018. They were selected from 140 applicants worldwide. The Global Comfort Index shows employers how much lifting allowance they will need to pay to employees who move to another city.
10. Adelaide, Australia - 96.6 points
This business, administrative, cultural and recreational center of South Australia is known as a major winemaking center. It is also famous for the annual holding of the independent International Arts Festival. In categories such as "Education" and "Health" the city received a hundred points. And in the other categories he didn’t “hit in the mud with his face”, gaining 94 or more points.
9. Copenhagen, Denmark - 96.8 points
The capital of Denmark is not crowded compared to the largest cities in Russia. About 600 thousand people live in it and about 1.3 million people live in the suburbs. However, it is very easy to fall in love with this city thanks to its calm, friendly locals, well-groomed nature, a huge number of attractions and a well-developed infrastructure. The public transport system has been excellently established in Copenhagen, but it is easiest and most environmentally friendly to travel around the city on bicycles, which many locals do.
8. Tokyo, Japan - 97.2 points
The capital of Japan is held in the top 10 best cities, mainly due to lower crime rates and improved public transportation, the EIU report said.
The delights of Tokyo are obvious to travelers: it is a huge, clean and incredibly safe city with a well-developed public transport system. Add to this a huge number of shops, entertainment, restaurants, high-tech industries and financial centers and you will understand why one of the largest cities in the world is popular with tourists and businessmen.
7. Toronto, Canada - 97.2 points
While the three high-rated Canadian cities show different results across all categories, they have at least one thing in common - multinationality. Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto attract many international students, professionals and new permanent residents, many of whom have received Canadian citizenship. Approximately half of the Toronto population was born overseas, about 30 percent of Calgary residents and more than 40 percent of Vancouver born outside Canada.
6. Vancouver, Canada, 97.3 points
Another Canadian city scored 95 points in the Stability category and 92.9 points in the Infrastructure category, with a wholly-owned account in the remaining categories.
Due to its relatively low crime rate, stable economy and successful education and healthcare systems, Vancouver, like its top 10 Canadian colleagues, successfully competes with larger foreign cities.
5. Sydney, Australia - 97.4 points
When it comes to assessing the convenience of living in a particular city, Sydney is always on the first lines. It has a reputation for being a beautiful city, with fun (and often free) festivals, convenient beaches and excellent transport infrastructure.
4. Calgary, Canada - 97.5 points
This city of unusual skyscrapers, changeable climate and high-tech production received excellent marks in most categories. An exception was the category “culture and environment”, where Calgary has only 90 points out of a hundred.
3. Osaka, Japan - 97.7 points
Over the past six months, the Japanese metropolis has risen immediately to six positions, falling into third place and narrowing the gap with Melbourne to a minimum. Improvements in Osaka are associated with improved quality and accessibility of public transport, as well as a consistent decrease in crime. These positive changes entailed upgrades to infrastructure and stability.
2. Melbourne, Australia - 98.4 points
The former leader of the top 10 best cities to stay this year occupies an honorable second place. This was facilitated by a slightly higher (than number one) crime rate.
Melbourne reaffirmed its leadership in the field of culture and the environment, but this did not help outweigh the improved stability rating in Vienna. Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Kapp congratulated Vienna and said that although Melbourne had lost its leading position, he still got the best result in eight years. Last year, the city scored 97.5 points.
1. Vienna, Austria - 99.1 points
For seven years in a row Melbourne led the selection of the most comfortable cities in the world, but the low risk of terrorist attacks in Western Europe, as well as a small number of crimes committed in the Austrian capital, helped Vienna to take first place. This is the first time in the history of the EIU rating, when the European city received the title of “most comfortable for living”.
“This year, both cities saw an improvement in their grades. But Vienna’s improvement was slightly larger than Melbourne’s, so it just slipped up, becoming number one. ", — said Simon Baptist of the Economist Intelligence Unit in an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne.
Summing up: where are the largest megacities and Russia?
All cities included in the top 10 are located in wealthy states with a relatively low population density. Therefore, local residents can enjoy active recreational activities that do not lead to high crime rates and do not place a heavy burden on the infrastructure. Although the capital of Austria and the cities of Japan cannot be called sparsely populated, the population of Vienna and Osaka is smaller than in other megacities.
Recognized business centers with a multimillion population fell victims of their own crowdedness. In New York, London, Paris and other major cities of the world there is an “overload” of infrastructure and a high crime rate. And this does not contribute to the comfort of respectable citizens.
But most of the cities whose positions have collapsed (Kiev, Tripoli and Damascus) suffer from a high level of instability and conflict. This, in turn, leads to the destruction of infrastructure, increased pressures on hospitals and undermines the availability of goods, services and recreational activities.
Russian megacities Moscow and St. Petersburg are in 68 and 70 positions respectively.
The worst city to live in today is Syrian Damascus.
