Melbourne – World’s Best Livable City, 3rd Consecutive Year!
Melbourne tops the charts yet again. For three consecutive years, Melbourne in Australia has been voted as the most civilized and livable city in the world. The annual ranking published by Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Livability Survey in the Global Livability Survey has chosen Melbourne in 2013.
The survey’s top cities were much the same with New Zealand and Australian taking five out of the best 10 rankings. Canada came close on heels with three positions among top 10. Several popular cities registered a downslide in popularity due to various reasons like civil unrest, discontent and austerity, particularly in the west Asia and China. On the whole, as per the EIU report, about 28 cities ranked below their earlier rankings
Austrian city Vienna gave Melbourne a good competition and considered close 2nd in the final rankings. The Canadian cities Toronto and Vancouver maintained their rankings and remained at third and fourth positions. Fifth position was shared by Calgary and Adelaide.
An interesting facet of the rankings was that almost all the top positions were occupied by wealthier countries mid-sized cities having a comparatively low density of population. The ongoing Syrian conflict has left Damascus much below this time. It has slipped 10 rankings.
Cities around the world were studied on different parameters. In 2013, survey was conducted for 140 cities. The cities were studied against parameters like infrastructure, environment, culture, healthcare and stability. Scores were weighted and compiled to arrive at a total out of 100.For eg. a score of 100 is ideal while 1 is intolerable.
This year, the report had some surprises. Spanish city of Madrid dropped five places due to unrest while the Slovakian capital of Bratislava notched a top ranking at 63rd position moving up. It is now in top tier in the 80 and above club.
Tehran(Iran), Karachi(Pakistan), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Douala (Cameroon), Harare( Zimbabwe), Algiers( Algeria), Lagos( Portugal), Damascus and Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) bring up the tail end. A closer look at them reveals couple of similarities like civil unrest, economic slowdown or aggravated violence. Part of the EIU report is published here to show the top10 positions.
World Top 10 best livable cities (same in 2013 as in 2012):
- 1. Melbourne (Australia) having score 97.5
- 2. Vienna (Austria) having score 97.4
- 3. Vancouver (Canada) having score 97.3
- 4. Toronto (Canada) having score 97.2
- 5. Calgary (Canada) having score 96.6
- 6. Adelaide (Australia) having score 96.6
- 7. Sydney (Australia) having score 96.1
- 8. Helsinki (Finland) having score 96.0
- 9. Perth (Australia) having score 95.9
- 10. Auckland (New Zealand) having score 95.7
