The most liveable cities in the world in 2021 – but it’s bad news for Brits
THE cities with the best quality of life have been revealed in an annual report – but it’s bad new for Brits.
Out of the 140 cities included in the report, no UK cities mades the top 50.
The list was put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as part of the annual Global Liveability Ranking for 2021.
The report wasn’t released last year due to the pandemic, although the 2021 list has revealed the top 10 liveable cities, with New Zealand and Australia coming out on top.
Auckland came in first place, with it’s “successful approach in containing the Covid-19 pandemic” part of its number one spot, as well as scoring highly on education and the environment.
New Zealand’s Wellington came in the top 10, while Australia had four entries – Adelaide (3), Perth (6), Melbourne (8) and Brisbane (10).
Both Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland made the top 10 – the only European destinations to do so – while Japan finished off the lit with Osaka and Tokyo.
UK cities failed to score highly at all with the highest being Manchester at 54th – a drop from 38th in 2019 – while London was ranked 60th.
Due to the pandemic, most European destinations have fallen down the list, including Vienna was was number one in 2018, only to be number 12 this year.
To determine liveability, the report analyses 30 factors across five categories – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
However, the stress on healthcare services and restrictions on schools and the arts were also considered, affecting most cities which have been hit hard by Covid.
They also determined the least liveable cities, with Damascus in Syria found to be the worst due to the effects of the civil war.
This is also followed by Lagos in Nigeria, Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and Dhaka in Bangladesh.
Top 10 most liveable cities 2021
1. Auckland, New Zealand
2. Osaka, Japan
3. Adelaide, Australia
4= Wellington, New Zealand
4= Tokyo, Japan
6. Perth, Australia
7. Zurich, Switzerland
8= Geneva, Switzerland
8= Melbourne, Australia
10. Brisbane, Australia
The report stated: “The pandemic has caused huge volatility in our bi-annual Liveability index.
“The overall global average liveability score has fallen by seven points, as compared with the average pre-pandemic score. The extent to which cities were sheltered by strong border closures, their ability to handle the health crisis and the pace at which they rolled out vaccination campaigns drove significant changes in the rankings.”
However, it said there was hope for some countries to improve due to the vaccine rollout, although was likely to affect poorer nations negatively which have failed to access the vaccine.
It said: “The pace of recovery of liveability in most regions will be determined by how effectively the health risks of the pandemic can be controlled, through a combination of vaccination, testing, tracing and
quarantine measures.
“Barring huge setbacks, such as the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants,
scores for culture and environment should improve.”
While schools will also return to normality, the report also warns of a backlog with healthcare services due to non-Covid services being delayed.
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