Published Tue, Jun 8 2021 11:31 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Jul 13 2021 2:08 AM EDT
A general nighttime view of the Auckland skyline as seen from the new Park Hyatt hotel in the Viaduct Basin area of the city on May 16, 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. James D. Morgan | Getty Images News | Getty Images As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, the metropolitan city of Auckland in New Zealand has been named the most livable city globally by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). That's largely due to the country's successful handling of Covid-19 which allowed schools, theaters, restaurants and other cultural attractions to remain open during the survey period from Feb. 22 to March 21, 2021, according to the EIU. New Zealand implemented a strict nationwide lockdown for several weeks last year to slow the spread of the virus. It also shut its international borders to most travelers. Asia-Pacific cities dominated the top 10 rankings this year, even as the pandemic caused overall livability around the world to decline. The top 10 most livable cities in the world, and their scores according to The Global Liveability Index 2021, are:
The livability index ranks cities based on more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Due to the pandemic, the EIU added new indicators such as stress on health-care resources as well as restrictions around local sporting events, theatres, music concerts, restaurants and schools. The impact of Covid-19 has been fairly obvious in the rankings, according to Simon Baptist, global chief economist at the EIU. "There's been quite a big shake-up in terms of, certainly the top 10, but also right throughout the ranking, based upon the Covid-19 situation," he told CNBC. Cities that were in lockdown or were experiencing a surge in cases during the survey period saw their scores reduced on several criteria, which led to many European cities falling down the ranks, Baptist explained. That includes the Austrian city of Vienna, which consistently ranked near the top over the last several years. This year, however, it failed to break into the top 10 and came in 12th position. Asia has some of the world's most livable cities, it also has some of the least livable. Simon Baptist EIU On the other hand, cities in Australia, New Zealand and Japan remained relatively open, with good availability of services, while their health-care systems were resilient due to a comparatively low number of cases, he added. The Hawaiian capital of Honolulu was the biggest gainer on the index, moving up 46 places to finish 14th due to its efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus and rapid vaccine rollout. Among other cities, Taipei finished 33rd while Singapore came in 34th. On a regional average, Asia ranked well below North America and Western Europe, according to the EIU. Damascus in Syria remained the world's least livable city — Syria marked 10 years of civil war this year. "Asia has some of the world's most livable cities, it also has some of the least livable," Baptist said. While cities in Australia, New Zealand and Japan dominated the top 10 positions, places like Dhaka, Bangladesh, Karachi, Pakistan and Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, languished near the bottom and have been doing so for a while, he added. Baptist said the list is updated twice a year. Since the first survey period ended this year, some of the top cities in Asia-Pacific saw a spike in Covid-19 cases, including Melbourne and Tokyo. On the other hand, European and North American cities have aggressively rolled out their vaccination programs and are in the process of opening up. Australia and New Zealand have not yet re-opened their borders to most travelers — a factor that Baptist said may affect the future rankings of their cities. "It'll be interesting to see there, if things in Europe and the U.S. have opened up more, especially in terms of international travel. But (if) things in Australia and New Zealand still have not, then we might find the ranking of Australian and New Zealand cities suffering a bit," Baptist said, adding that he expects the European cities to potentially show a big improvement by the next survey period.
Get the latest global mobility news, event invitations, and articles from Mercer. sign up now Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images Remko De Waal/AFP/Getty Images Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto/Getty Images Sebastian Gollnow/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images Piotr Piwowarski/NurPhoto/Getty Images Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images (CNN) — Considering a big move this year? You may want to think about Canada or western Europe. The annual ranking of the world's most liveable cities has just been released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and 2022's Global Liveability Index shows some marked differences from the previous year. The EIU, which is a sister organization to The Economist, ranked 173 cities around the world on a variety of factors, including health care, crime rates, political stability, infrastructure and access to green space. Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images Overall, Europe dominated the list, with six spots in the top 11 (there was a tie for 10th place). Copenhagen, which CNN Travel pronounced Europe's capital of cool in December 2021, nabbed second place on the Global Liveability Index. Switzerland was the only country in Europe to have two entries in the top 10, with Geneva in sixth position and Zurich landing in third. However, the overall country winner was Canada. The Great White North had three of its cities represented -- Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. "Cities that were towards the top of our rankings before the pandemic have rebounded on the back of their stability, good infrastructure and services, as well as enjoyable leisure activities," the index's authors wrote. The world's most expensive cities for 2022Last year's winner, New Zealand's Auckland, fell out of the top 10 in 2022 to land at a surprising 34th place. Neighboring Australia had the most noticeable drop in the rankings this year. Despite having topped the list in the past, Melbourne fell to 10th place in 2022. In 2021, Australia dominated the EIU index, with Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth all joining Melbourne in the top 10. This year, they rank 27th, 30th and 32nd respectively. Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images Wellington, New Zealand's capital, was in fourth place in 2021 but also dropped out of the top 10 this year. Though Europe had a very good showing in 2022, there are two noticeable entries missing -- London and Paris. Increased cost of living expenses played a role in both metropolises, as did the UK's decision to leave the European Union. Ongoing global conflict was the number-one factor determining which countries ranked at the bottom of the list. Damascus, Lagos and Tripoli were rated the three least liveable cities in the world. Meanwhile, Kyiv was not analyzed this year due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, global mobility company ECA International released its list of the world's most expensive cities to live in, with a focus on expats. Hong Kong had the dubious honor of coming in first place, with New York City, Geneva, London and Tokyo rounding out the top five. The only city to appear on both the ECA and EIU indexes was Geneva. The most expensive cities ranking was determined solely by economic factors -- average rent, the price of gas and the like -- as opposed to the EIU list, which looks at a city's cultural attractions like museums and concerts as well as infrastructure like mass transit. Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images 1. Vienna, Austria 2. Copenhagen, Denmark 3. Zurich, Switzerland 4. Calgary, Canada 5. Vancouver, Canada 6. Geneva, Switzerland 7. Frankfurt, Germany 8. Toronto, Canada 9. Amsterdam, Netherlands 10. Osaka, Japan and Melbourne, Australia (tie) |