Vancouver named world's most livable city

According to a study published by The Economist, Vancouver is the easiest city to live in, on the other end, Harare, in Zimbabwe, is the most difficult to live in. “At the other end of the ranking, most of the poorest-performing locations are in Africa or Asia, where civil instability and poor infrastructure present significant challenges,” explained the survey’s authors.

In total, 140 cities were classified by the study. Five criteria were taken into account: health-care, stability, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. Among the top 10 cities, 6 were situated in either Canada or Australia.

Vancouver obtained a score of 98 percent (with 0 percent being intolerable and 100 percent ideal). Vancouver’s high scores benefited from “strong Canadian infrastructure.” Vienna took second place followed by Melbourne, Toronto, Perth, Calgary, Helsinki and Geneva, and Sydney and Zurich. Among American cities, Washington DC ranked the highest in 35th place followed by Los Angeles in 48th.

“Cities scoring below 50 points, from Phnom Penh at 128, present daily challenges in terms of quality of life,” the authors explained. These cities include Tehran, Karachi, Lagos, Algiers and Dhaka.

Tags: Vancouver, Harare, The Economist, stability, culture and environment, education, infrastructure