Vienna tops the list of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for 2019, ending Melbourne's seven-year reign as the front-runner of the world's most liveable cities.
Vienna, the capital of Austria, is popular for its classical music scene, cafe and wine culture, architectural design, and imperial history. Its green spaces and commendable public services made Vienna stand out in the list of the world's most liveable cities.
The difference between Vienna and Melbourne was 0.7 point out of 100, with Vienna garnering 99.1, and remained unchanged in the 2019 ranking.
According to the global business intelligence firm, “Sydney has risen from fifth to third, thanks to an improvement in its culture and environment score, reflecting an increased focus on combating and mitigating the impacts of climate change, as outlined by the city’s ‘Sustainable Sydney 2030’ strategy."
“With both cities already scoring very highly across all categories, there is only limited potential for Sydney to displace either Melbourne or Vienna at the top of the rankings. No other city in the top ten saw a change to its score," said the EIU.
Osaka took the fourth spot, followed by Canada's Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Toronto shared the seventh place with Tokyo, which is one of the top five most popular destinations in Asia Pacific. Copenhagen and Adelaide in South Australia also made the top 10.
“Paris in France is the highest-ranked city to have seen a deterioration in its stability score, owing to the ongoing anti-government gilets jaunes protests that began in late 2018,” said the EIU.
Stability and culture and environment, weighted equally at 25 per cent of the total, are the two most crucial criteria of the EIU's index. Cities are also ranked based on healthcare and infrastructure, also matched at 20 percent as well as on education, with a 10 percent weighting.
Vienna also grabbed the top spot of Mercer’s 21st annual Quality of Living survey for the 10th year running. Mercer emphasizes that "quality of living is an essential component of a city’s attractiveness for businesses and mobile talent."
