Vienna continues to offer the best quality of life among the world’s major cities, while Budapest is among the most rapidly improving ones, finishing in the top five according to this year’s global ranking released on Wednesday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in London.
One of the world’s largest analytical and forecasting institutes, the EIU examined the quality of life in 173 major cities based on criteria such as stability, healthcare, education, culture and environment, and infrastructure. The EIU assigns numerical ratings to these factors, which are then aggregated with various weightings into an overall quality index ranging from zero to 100.
On the EIU’s Global Liveability Index 2024, the Austrian capital scored 98.4 out of a possible 100 points.
Vienna has topped the list of the world’s most liveable cities for the third consecutive year.
The top ten also includes Copenhagen, Zurich, Melbourne, Calgary, Geneva, Sydney, Vancouver, Osaka, and Auckland.
The EIU notes that Western Europe is generally the most liveable region in the world. The 30 Western European cities on the 2024 list had an average score of 92, although this is 0.3 percentage points lower than last year’s result, primarily due to a decline in the stability criterion.
The company attributes this to crime and significant disruptions caused by protest demonstrations in several Western European cities.
The 25 North American cities included in the survey averaged 90.5 out of 100 points, 0.1 percentage points lower than last year. This region is the second most liveable according to this year’s EIU list.
Budapest, meanwhile, is in the category of cities that have improved the most over the past twelve months.
The Hungarian capital scored 92.0 out of 100 points, moving up seven places to rank 32nd.
Tel Aviv experienced the largest decline, falling 20 places to the 112th position with a score of 70.7. The EIU attributes this decline to the terrorist attack by Hamas in October last year and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
At the bottom of the EIU’s liveability ranking is Damascus, in 173rd place, with an overall quality of life score of just 30.7. The bottom ten also include Tripoli, Algiers, Lagos, Karachi, Dhaka, Harare, Port Moresby, Kyiv, and Caracas.
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