Vienna Most Livable City In the World; Delhi 118th

A rise in petty crime and the deterioration of air quality have hurt Indian national capital New Delhi’s score, with the city slipping six places down to settle at the 118th position in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Livability Index 2019. The list, which ranks 140 cities on five headline parameters, shows New Delhi registered the biggest decline in Asia, ranking wise.  India’s financial capital Mumbai, too, saw its ranking slipping two places from its previous ranking, to stand at the 119th spot.  

While the decline in Mumbai's ranking is primarily due to a downgrade in its cultural score, New Delhi has fallen in the index because of downgrades to its culture and environment score as well as fall in the stability score owing to rising crime rates.

The EIU survey ranks cities under five headlines, including stability, healthcare, culture & environment, education, and infrastructure. Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. While stability (crime rates are part of this headline criterion) and culture & environment have a combined weighted average of 50 per cent on the overall ranking, healthcare and infrastructure together form 20 per cent weighing. The remaining 10 per cent weight comes from education.

"This year we also note the demonstrable impact of the effects of climate change on liveability. Several cities, such as New Delhi in India and Cairo in Egypt received substantial downgrades on their scores owing to problems linked to climate change, such as poor air quality, undesirable average temperatures and inadequate water provision," the report said.

Austrian capital Vienna has maintained its position as the top ranker this year, too, with an overall score of scored 99.1 on a scale of 100. In comparison, New Delhi got an overall score of 56.3 while Mumbai has got 56.2 points.  A score between 50-60 points indicates constrained liveability conditions.

While Melbourne and Sydney have got the second and third rankings, respectively, Syria’s Damascus lies at the bottom of the list, with an overall score of 30.7 points.

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Sydney, Australia

4. Osaka, Japan

5. Calgary, Canada

6. Vancouver, Canada

7. Tokya, Japan and Toronto, Canada

9. Copenhagen, Denmark

10. Adelaide, Australia