The most liveable cities in the world for 2024

The Austrian city has once again been crowned the most liveable city in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual list, released today.

The EIU, a sister organization of The economistranked 173 cities around the world based on a number of key factors, including healthcare, culture and environment, stability, infrastructure and education.

Vienna topped the list for the third consecutive year, achieving ‘perfect’ scores in four of the five categories; the city scored lower in culture and environment due to an apparent lack of major sporting events.

Perfect scores

Vienna has been named the most liveable city in the world by the EIU on the Global Liveability Index.

Just behind the Austrian capital, Denmark’s Copenhagen retained its second place, while Switzerland’s Zurich rose from sixth to third place on the list.

Australia’s Melbourne dropped from third to fourth place, while the Canadian city of Calgary finished in fifth place with the Swiss city of Geneva.

Vancouver of Canada and Sydney of Australia tied for seventh, while Osaka of Japan and Auckland of New Zealand rounded out the top 10 in a tie for ninth.

While Western Europe performed well, with 30 cities scoring an average score of 92 out of 100, the region saw an overall decline in stability scores, which was attributed to “increasing cases of disruptive protests” and crime.

At 23rd, Honolulu, Hawaii was the highest U.S. city on the list, while Atlanta, Georgia rose four spots to number 29.

Los Angeles was further down the list at 58th, while New York came in at number 70.

‘Acute housing crisis’

Toronto, Canada, dropped out of the top 10 most liveable cities this year, finishing in 12th place.

North America had the highest average score for education. However, infrastructure figures in Canada were lower than last year due to “an acute housing crisis” that has affected several regions.

“The situation is particularly worrying in Australia and Canada, where rental housing availability is at an all-time low and purchase prices have continued to rise despite interest rate rises,” the report said.

Vancouver fell back while remaining in the top 10, and Toronto (ninth on the list in 2023) fell out of the top 10 to 12th.

The Swiss city of Zurich scored impeccably in the education and healthcare categories.

The British capital London was ranked as the 45th most liveable city in the world.

In Asia, Hong Kong saw the biggest score improvement since last year, from 61st to 50th thanks to an improvement in its stability and healthcare scores.

Cities in the UAE saw some of the biggest score increases this year, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai climbing the list, and Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia also making significant gains.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Tel Aviv had one of the biggest drops, dropping 20 places to 112th as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Stability drops

Vancouver is number 7 on the list this year.

“Global livability has increased fractionally over the past year, but risks to stability remain,” said Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU.

“Still high inflation, coupled with high interest rates and other economic headwinds, led to another year of frequent protests around the world.”

There was little change at the bottom of the list: Damascus and Syria still rank among the world’s least liveable countries, while Libya’s Tripoli, Algiers in Algeria and Lagos in Nigeria are just above.

The research shows that none of the bottom four cities have seen any improvement in their overall score since 2023.

“Since we conducted our research, there have been more cases of civil unrest and demonstrations worldwide, such as the campus protests in the US. This suggests that pressure on quality of life remains high and is unlikely to continue in the will decline in the near future,” Bhattacharyya said.

The Global Liveability Index of 2024: the top 10

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

3. Zurich, Switzerland

4. Melbourne, Australia

5. Calgary, Canada

5. Geneva, Switzerland

7. Sydney, Australia

7. Vancouver, Canada

9. Osaka, Japan

9. Auckland, New Zealand

With an impressive balance between healthcare, education and infrastructure, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual list ranks Vienna, Austria, as the most livable city in the world for the third consecutive year. As travelers consider their next destination, they may find intrigue in the top 10 cities for news lovers, including Vienna, Copenhagen, Zurich, Melbourne, Calgary, Geneva, Sydney, Vancouver, Osaka and Auckland.