KUALA LUMPUR: Austria’s capital Vienna is rated the world’s most liveable city for the second year running.
Five Asian and Australasian cities make the top 10 list in the 2019 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Report.
The EIU said Vienna remains the most liveable city ahead of Melbourne, Sydney, Osaka and Calgary.
It receives near-perfect, exceptional scores in four of the five categories of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
There is a strong contingent of Japanese and Australasian cities at the top of the rankings, with eight of the top 20 cities being located in the wider Asia and Australasian region.
Sydney registered an improvement in its ranking, rising from fifth to third place in 2019. This is attributable to an improvement in Sydney’s culture and environment score, reflecting an increased focus on combating and mitigating the impacts of climate change, as outlined by the city’s “Sustainable Sydney 2030” strategy.
With an average score of 73.1, Asian cities score slightly below the global average of 75.8, and Asian cities not in Japan, Australia or New Zealand are often rated as significantly less liveable.
The only other Asian cities awarded scores in the top tier of liveability (a rating of 80 or above) are Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Nouméa.
No mainland Chinese city is given a score indicative of the top tier of liveability.
Three Asian cities are among the 10 least liveable globally. These include Port Moresby (135th), Karachi (136th) and Dhaka (138th).
Several major global cities received mixed scores.
London and New York ranked 48th and 58th out of the 140 cities in the survey.
Both are rated very highly for their cultural amenities, but they struggle in the stability category, owing to perceptions of the risk of crime and terrorism.
Infrastructure is also perceived as a weakness, as both cities are struggling to cope with growing pains.
Agathe Demarais, the EIU's global forecasting directorm said reflecting the region’s diversity, Asia and Australasia did not have consistent cross-regional liveability trends.
“With an average score of 73.1, the region is home to some of the best- and worst scoring cities in the world. For instance, Melbourne in Australia led the index for seven consecutive years from 2011, while Dhaka in Bangladesh is close to the foot of the table.”
Of the 37 Asian cities included in the index, five are among the 10 most liveable and six are among the 20 least liveable.
There are 14 Asian cities awarded the top grade for liveability, led by Melbourne and Sydney.
The Japanese cities of Osaka and Tokyo also rank within the top ten on the back of consistently low crime rates and excellent healthcare and education.
Regional hubs such as Hong Kong (38th) and Singapore (40th) have also performed well, reflecting locations where global business activity supports high-quality infrastructure and broad cultural and recreational activities.
Few cities in Asia have registered major changes to their score over the past year, with the exceptions of Colombo, which has seen its stability score fall following the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, and New Delhi, which dropped six places in the ranking relative to last year.
More positively, South Korea’s capital, Seoul has risen two places (to 57th), owing to greater stability as the risk of public unrest has eased under the current president, Moon Jae-in, who has taken a more conciliatory line to relations with North Korea.