Vienna ranked first in 2018 and 2019, but was overtaken by Auckland, New Zealand, during the pandemic and fell to 12th place in 2021, according to the Global Liveability Index 2022.
Sylvain Sonet | The Image Bank | Getty Images
After two years, Vienna has surpassed Auckland as the most livable city in the world, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Vienna ranked first in 2018 and 2019, but was overtaken by Auckland, New Zealand, during the pandemic and fell to 12th place in 2021, according to the Global Liveability Index 2022.
The IEU said Auckland’s position in the index fell to 34th this year due to higher Covid-19 infection rates and strict border controls in 2021. Although the confinements went ending in New Zealand in December, the well-vaccinated cities of Europe and Canada had begun. relieve restrictions sooner.
However, it is unlikely that Auckland will have reached the top position of this year’s ranking even without a pandemic, according to the ISU.
“The fall of other cities was the reason why Auckland was the first time the last. Without Covid, it would probably be the top 10, but not the number one,” said Simon Baptist, chief global economist at the research and advisory firm.
Five more European cities – Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt and Amsterdam – were also in the top ten. Calgary and Vancouver of Canada took third and fifth place respectively. Osaka of Japan and Melbourne of Australia shared 10th place, the only two “Asian” cities to reach the top 10.
The 172 cities included in the rating were assessed in these categories: stability, health, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Major declines
The cities of New Zealand and Australia were the most significant falls in the ISU’s habitability ranking.
New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, dropped from 46 places, while Australians Adelaide and Perth lost their 2021 positions in the top 10. They are now in 30th and 32nd place respectively.
The cities of Australia and New Zealand reached six of the top 10 places last year, but were “far, far below” on this year’s list, as their partial reopening coincided with the spread of the more contagious omicron variant, Baptist told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.” ” Thursday.
But the EIU is optimistic that these cities will recover.
“We can expect the cities of Australia and New Zealand to move up in the rankings next year, when we do the next round of the poll. And that will be because they will have further relaxed their Covid restrictions,” Baptist said.
Other cities in the region also saw their rankings fall.
Singapore dropped three places to 37th place this year, while Hong Kong dropped to 62nd place from 49th last year.
“This is a long-term change, it’s not just about Covid. That’s part of it. But Hong Kong’s loss of connectivity is likely to be permanent,” Baptist said, citing the decline in cultural and political freedom in the city.
Russian cities sank
The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused Moscow’s livability ranking to fall by 15 places, while St. Petersburg fell by 13 places, the IUU reported.
“Both cities are experiencing a drop in scores due to increased instability, censorship, the imposition of Western sanctions and companies withdrawing their operations from the country,” the report says.
The war in Ukraine also affected the rankings of other Eastern European cities that have faced political clashes, security threats, food and energy insecurity, and rising inflation, EIU said.
For example, Warsaw in Poland and Budapest in Hungary saw their stability outcomes shrink as a result of rising diplomatic tensions, the ISIS added.
The capital of Ukraine Kyiv was also excluded from this year’s report and 33 new cities were added, 11 of them in China.
The top 10
These are the most livable cities in the world and their scores, according to The Global Liveability Index 2022:
1. Vienna, Austria (99,1)
2. Copenhagen, Denmark (98.0)
3. TIE – Zurich, Switzerland (96.3)
3. TIE – Calgary, Canada (96.3)
5. Vancouver, Canada (96.1)
6. Geneva, Switzerland (95.9)
7. Frankfurt, Germany (95.7)
7. Toronto, Canada (95.4)
9. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (95.3)
10. TIE – Osaka, Japan (95.1)
10. TIE – Melbourne, Australia (95.1)