Vancouver, Melbourne, Vienna, Toronto, and CALGARY
named world’s most liveable cities
A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit
EIU says that depite controversy surrounding the growing number of homeless people in Vancouver, general liveability levels were high. “Residents and visitors benefit from good transport links and broad cultural and recreational availability although, as in any large city, there is still some prevalence of petty crime.”
Vienna is ranked second in the EIU survey, followed by Melbourne in third place. Two other Canadian cities, Toronto and Calgary, complete the top five. Canadian and Australian cities account for seven of the top ten, with Vienna, Helsinki and Auckland making up the 10 most liveable destinations surveyed. It is also remarkable that, with the exeption of Vienna and Helsinki, all top-ten cities are in English-speaking countries. Unlike in the
Mercer survey, Swiss cities, like Zurich and Geneva, don’t feature in the EIU top ten.
EIU’s ten ‘best’ cities in the world
|
Rank
|
City
|
Country
|
|
1
|
Vancouver | Canada |
|
2
|
Vienna | Austria |
|
3
|
Melbourne | Australia |
|
4
|
Toronto | Canada |
|
5
|
Calgary | Canada |
|
6
|
Helsinki | Finland |
|
7
|
Sydney | Australia |
|
=8
|
Perth | Australia |
|
=8
|
Adelaide | Australia |
|
10
|
Auckland | New Zealand |
Mercer Consulting’s 50 best cities in the world
The EIU report, which describes the concept of liveability as simple, is written for business people from western countries and used to work out hardship allowances as part of an expatriate’s relocation package. The report’s authors say that the survey quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Seen from such a western perspective, it is therefore not suprising that the survey’s lowest ranked cities are all in developing countries.