Despite the fact that the pandemic has been over a year, persistent health issues, border closures, and lockdowns continue to afflict millions of people all across the world.
However, some places have performed significantly better than others in terms of dealing with the virus, allowing residents to return to some form of normalcy quite quickly. The EUI every year declares a list of the most livable cities in the world.
To halt the spread of the virus, New Zealand imposed a rigorous countrywide lockdown for several weeks last year. Most overseas travelers were also barred from entering the country. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has rated Auckland, New Zealand’s metropolitan metropolis, the most livable city in the world, while the globe continues to battle with the coronavirus outbreak.
The livability index assigns a score to cities based on over 30 qualitative and quantitative characteristics in five categories: stability (25%), health care (20%), culture and environment (25%), education (10%), and infrastructure (20%).
The EIU included additional indicators as a result of the epidemic, such as strain on health-care resources and limits on local athletic events, theatres, music concerts, restaurants, and schools.
The top 10 most livable cities in the world, and their scores according to The Global Livability Index 2021, are:
- Auckland, New Zealand (96.0)
- Osaka, Japan (94.2)
- Adelaide, Australia (94.0)
- Wellington, New Zealand (93.7)
- Tokyo, Japan (93.7)
- Perth, Australia (93.3)
- Zurich, Switzerland (92.8)
- Geneva, Switzerland (92.5)
- Melbourne, Australia (92.5)
- Brisbane, Australia (92.4)
‘Big shake-up’ in rankings
According to Simon Baptist, global chief economist of the EIU, the influence of Covid-19 has also been pretty clear in the rankings.
“There’s been quite a big shake-up in terms of, certainly the top 10, but also right throughout the ranking, based upon the COVID-19 situation,” he told CNBC.
During the study period, cities that were under lockdown or witnessing a spike in cases saw their ratings drop on various parameters, causing several European towns to fall behind, according to Baptist.
Europe vs. Asia
According to the EIU, Asia ranks well behind North America and Western Europe on a regional scale. Syria’s capital, Damascus, remains the world’s least habitable city despite the country’s civil conflict marking its tenth year this year.
“Asia has some of the world’s most livable cities, it also has some of the least livable,” Baptist said. While cities in Australia, New Zealand and Japan dominated the top 10 positions, places like Dhaka, Bangladesh, Karachi, Pakistan and Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, languished near the bottom and have been doing so for a while, he added.
Some of the leading cities in Asia-Pacific, like Melbourne and Tokyo, have also seen an increase in Covid-19 instances since the first survey concluded this year. European and North American cities have actively pushed out their immunization program and are in the midst of expanding.
The world’s least livable cities 2021
- Damascus, Syria
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Algiers, Algeria
- Tripoli, Libya
- Karachi, Pakistan
- Harare, Zimbabwe
- Douala, Cameroon
- Caracas, Venezuela