When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described London as ‘that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained’ he was right. Our pollution, politicians and openly diabolical public transport system (I’m looking at you, Central Line) has finally landed us where we deserve. London, the glittering jewel of England’s cities, has not made it into the latest ranking of the top 10 most liveable cities in the world.
Yes, The Global Liveability Index 2025 has been announced and the insights from The Economist Intelligence Unit, of The Economist Group, have revealed that, if it’s bad news if you live in London or New York, it’s frankly terrible news if you live in Damascus — their lowest ranking city. Great news, however, for residents in Copenhagen. Yes, those fun loving Danes have got it right: their city has overtaken Vienna, disrupting its three year reign, to become the most liveable in the world. Copenhagen scored a perfect 100 for stability, education and infrastructure. The capital of Austria joined Zurich in Switzerland in second place, which is remarkable when you consider that their national dishes — strudel and schnitzel — are perhaps the stodgiest and least appealing of any in the world.
Vienna waits... to become the most liveable city again, one day in the future.
Geneva in Switzerland is in fifth place in the ranking.
In fourth place, with the lack of a third due to Vienna and Zurich sharing second, comes Melbourne, which begs the question: why are there so many Australians living in Clapham if one of their major cities is so much more liveable than ours? Geneva in Switzerland is in fifth, meaning it has ranked twice in the top five spots before an English city has even ranked at all. In sixth is Sydney, followed by Osaka in Japan and Auckland in New Zealand — they both share seventh place. In another Aussie victory, Adelaide comes ninth and Vancouver slides into the top 10 by a whisker.
The index’s data is backed by their network of 400 analysts and will be used to help governments, financial institutions and multinational corporations with decision making. 173 cities across the world were ranked on 30 indicators which were divided into five categories: healthcare, culture and environment, education, infrastructure and stability. Across all the cities ranked, the average score remained the same as last year, but on average, stability scores declined and education, healthcare and infrastructure scores grew.
It was a Canadian victory in 10th place with Vancouver.
Saudi Arabia’s Al Khobar was the most improved city, rising by 13 places, which is curious given their human rights record. Calgary in Canada saw the biggest fall down the rankings, dropping 13 places, from fifth to 18th. Manchester, London and Edinburgh were, unfortunately for us, also among the biggest droppers, with our stability scores sinking significantly. Manchester dropped nine places, making it 52nd in the ranking, as did London, which became the 54th best city to live in. Oh dear. And it was worse for our Scottish contingent, with no amount of haggis or kilt-wearing sparing Edinburgh a drop of five places, putting it 64th.
But, in the biggest scandal of all, although Alicia Keys called it a ‘concrete jungle where dreams are made of’, apparently she was wrong about New York, as the capital of maybe the most influential country in the world was not mentioned in the index’s report. Ironically for a city that never sleeps, they didn’t get a look in. Perhaps their constant vigilance had momentarily waned, and they had dozed off when The Global Liveability Index team came calling. Apologies Alicia Keys.
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