The Global Liveability Index 2022 has few surprises as the top 10 rankings continue to be dominated by Europe and Canada. Receding Covid-19 pandemic helps recovery in many parts.

The latest ranking of most liveable cities in the world, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit of The Economist magazine shows that the top 10 cities on the Global Liveability Index continue to be dominated by several European cities, with a fair presence of Canada as well.

While Austrian capital Vienna has emerged as the world’s most liveable city, it is followed by Copenhagen in Denmark and the Swiss financial hub Zurich in the third. Sharing the third spot with Zurich is Canadian city of Calgary which has jumped 18 places in one year.

Vienna obtained the perfect score of 100 on four of five parametres, stability, healthcare, education and infrastructure. With 96.3 in culture, it ended with total score of 99.1. Copenhagen obtained perfect scores in stability, education and infrastructure to end with overall 98. Vancouver in Canada obtained perfect scores in healthcare, culture and education to end with overall index of 96.1.

The EIU says that in general, mid-sized cities in the wealthiest countries tend to fare exceptionally well in the survey. The top 10 cities are also among those with few Covid-19 restrictions. Shops, restaurants and museums have reopened, as have schools, and pandemic-led hospitalisation has declined, leading to less stress on healthcare resources and services, and even the requirement to wear masks is no longer in force in most situations, it says. ‘‘As a result, cities, that were towards the top of our rankings before the pandemic have rebounded on the back of their stability, good infrastructure and services, as well as enjoyable leisure activities,’’ says the EIU.

Receding pandemic boosts western Europe rankings

With the pandemic receding, most western European cities have benefitted from a sharp jump in their rankings in the latest list. Most German, British and French cities had slipped in the survey a year ago because they were still under Covid-19 restrictions imposed as the Delta wave spread across the continent.

Now, with normalcy returning to Europe and as all restrictions are removed, including on wearing masks, limits on gatherings or on travel, many cities in the EU have staged a smart recovery. The sharpest improvement has been recorded by Frankfurt that moved up a surprising 32 spots to end at 7th in the world. Making the top three of best movers are fellow German cities Hamburg and Dusseldorf. While Hamburg moved up 31 places to 16th, Dusseldorf climbed 28 positions to 22nd rank globally.

London and Manchester in the United Kingdom were next biggest upward movers followed by French capital Paris. While London climbed 27 spots to 33, Manchester rose 26 places to 28th and Paris moved 23 places up to land at 19th position overall. Brussels, Amsterdam and Athens are the other cities in the top 10 upwardly mobile cities, with Los Angeles in the United States emerging as the 10th fastest improving city in the world, as per the index.

Cities in New Zealand and Australia have recorded the biggest falls in the rankings. Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand tumbled by 46 and 33 places respectively while Adelaide and Perth in neighbouring Australia were the 3rd and 4th worst performers, falling 27 and 26 spots respectively. The EIU says that both the countries had benefited in early 2021, when Covid-19 vaccines were scarce and their closed borders kept cases down, keeping liveability high.