Melbourne has retained the top spot as the world’s “most livable city” but the global picture is a “sombre” one as terrorism, police shootings and geopolitical tensions led to an overall decline in living standards.
A report which assesses the best and worst living conditions across the globe placed the Austrian capital of Vienna in second place followed by Vancouver and Toronto in Canada.
But international stability is waning, as terrorist attacks on the west increase and waves of civil protests hit the US.
Damascus, the Syrian capital city, languishes at the bottom of the table, followed by Tripoli in Libya and Lagos in Nigeria.
The top-scoring cities ranked highly across five broad categories – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
But “violent acts of terrorism” have affected many countries and while not a new phenomenon, the “frequency and spread have increased noticeably and become even more prominent in the past year,” according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2016 Global Liveability Report.
Jon Copestake, its editor, told The Independent: “The latest rankings paint a very sombre picture.
“The fact that one in five cities has seen its livability score decline reflects a worrying backdrop and one that is depressingly familiar given that similar declines were reported last year.”
“What is interesting is that it is not just the threat of terrorism that is lowering stability. The last few years have seen an intensification of protests, and border disputes as well as the ongoing armed conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.”
There have been more than 1,000 terrorist attacks in 2016 so far – with incidents in France, Turkey, the US and Belgium among the most high profile.
“Social unrest” caused by deaths in police custody and regular mass shootings have also led to the decline in the scores of five leading American cities – Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco and New York.
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Sourced from Independent, Featured image courtesy: roameoriding.blogspot.com
