An index that ranks the most livable cities in the world each year is out, and 2022’s top-ranked city is a town that’s been No. 1 before.
This year, Vienna tops the rankings of the annual Liveability Index report, which is published by a global team of economists, industry specialists, policy analysts and consultants at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The organization assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions, rating over 30 factors across five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Austria’s most populated city also received this recognition in 2019 and 2018. However, Vienna fell to 12th place in 2021 as its museums and restaurants were closed. Auckland, New Zealand, held the top spot in 2021 because of its rapid pandemic response.
“Stability and good infrastructure are the city’s main charms for its inhabitants,” the annual report said, “supported by good healthcare and plenty of opportunities for culture and entertainment.”
Due to Covid lockdowns in 2020, the organization’s analysts could not collect data for many cities and have not published an index for that year.
Western European and Canadian cities took the top five spots in the livability index for 2022. The top 10 cities in the index for 2022 are:
- Vienna, Austria
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Calgary, Canada
- Vancouver, Canada
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Toronto, Canada
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Osaka, Japan / Melbourne, Australia
Osaka and Melbourne were tied in the 10th spot. No U.S cities made the top 10 list.
EIU’s Liveability Index has risen sharply, with ratings for culture and environment, healthcare and education showing improvement since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, global average scores remain below pre-pandemic levels.
There have been numerous changes to the cities included in the survey. For instance, Kyiv has been removed from the study due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although Moscow and St. Petersburg are still included, the conflict has influenced rankings for the Russian cities.
In addition, 33 new cities were added to the rankings, bringing the total to 172. Eleven of the new cities are in China, and six are in the U.S.
The report states that Western European and Canadian cities have a large share of the top rankings primarily because high COVID-19 vaccination rates and eased restrictions have led to a much more “normal” way of life in these cities.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
