The top 10 most livable cities globally are all in Europe.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, has been named the world's most livable city for the third year in a row, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The annual report evaluates the livability of cities by examining 173 cities worldwide based on 30 indicators grouped into five categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

Vienna topped the list of Western European cities for stability, health care, education, and infrastructure, with Copenhagen and Zurich following closely behind.

Despite having the highest overall score, Vienna's culture and environment categories were slightly impacted due to the absence of significant sporting events, according to the EIU Global Liveability Index for 2024.

"The Liveability Index of EIU has increased slightly in the past year, despite declines in stability and infrastructure in advanced economies, which were balanced by improvements in healthcare and education in developing markets."

According to EIU, these are the 10 most livable cities in the world.

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Melbourne, Australia
5. Calgary, Canada
6. Geneva, Switzerland
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Vancouver, Canada
9. Osaka, Japan
10. Auckland, New Zealand

This year, four cities from the Asia-Pacific region ranked among the top 10, including Melbourne and Sydney from Australia, Osaka from Japan, and Auckland from New Zealand.

This year, Melbourne, Sydney, and Vancouver ranked among the top 10 cities, but their positions were affected by a significant shortfall in housing availability, according to the EIU. Toronto, which had been among the top 10 in the previous two years, fell to 12th place due to the same reason.

Despite being the top-performing region for livability globally with a score of 92 out of 100, Western Europe has seen a decline in performance due to an increase in protests and crime, affecting the stability category, according to the report.

Despite being the second best region with an average score of 90.5 out of 100, North America's infrastructure was negatively impacted by the ongoing housing crisis in Canada, according to EIU.

10 most livable cities in Asia

In the latest study, Asian cities have shown a significant improvement in their livability scores worldwide. Hong Kong, in particular, experienced the most substantial increase, moving from 61st to 50th place in the rankings.

The EIU reports that Hong Kong's political landscape has stabilized, with the risks of disruptions from mass protests now negligible, although it is not yet back to its pre-2019 scores.

The EIU stated that the national security law and local regulations implemented in 2024 have maintained political stability, but this improvement has come at a significant cost to Hong Kong civil society, as demonstrated by the city's declining score in the Democracy Index, which was separately published.

Asia's 10 most livable cities:

• Melbourne, Australia (4th globally)
• Sydney, Australia (7th)
• Osaka, Japan (9th tie)
• Auckland, New Zealand (9th tie)
• Adelaide, Australia (11th)
• Tokyo, Japan (14th)
• Perth, Australia (15th)
• Brisbane, Australia (16th)
• Wellington, New Zealand (20th)
• Singapore, Singapore (26th)

In the past 12 months, Singapore, which was ranked 26th in the world, experienced a significant increase and was the second-largest mover upward. Notably, this tiny Southeast Asian nation achieved a perfect 100 in the health-care category.

Tokyo, being the most populous among the top 20 cities in Asia, deserves recognition for maintaining high standards of public service provision and security across a large population, according to the EIU.

Despite the government's focus on infrastructure development, Indian cities have seen a decline in livability scores due to poor air quality.

According to Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU, 16 out of the 58 Asian cities in the index have achieved the highest level of liveability (score above 80).

She stated that 11 Asian cities scored below 60, which is considered seriously constrained liveability, as they face structural, political, and climatic challenges that are difficult to overcome.

This year, the stability category experienced the largest decline among the five categories, due to geopolitical conflict, civil unrest, and the ongoing housing crisis and crime in many cities surveyed, as stated in the report.

Least livable cities

The report indicates that the bottom 10 cities for livability are primarily located in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa regions. Damascus, Syria and Tripoli, Libya are ranked as the two least livable cities due to the civil unrest that has severely impacted their economies.

Kyiv, Ukraine, was ranked 9th least livable city globally due to ongoing conflict following Russia's February 2022 invasion.

Since October 7, Tel Aviv, the Israeli capital, has fallen 20 places in global rank to 112th, due to its ongoing conflict with Hamas. Over 1,200 Israelis and 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the United Nations.

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