"Oh what a beautiful city"-- Ralph Stanley, “Twelve Gates to the City” (2002)
According to the newest ranking on The Global Liveability Report 2017, America’s major metropolises, like Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City, just do not measure up to several of their international counterparts. The most recent research from The Economist Intelligence Unit indicates that Canadian and Australian cities dominate the “Top 10” most “livable” in The World. 140 cities around the world were ranked according to "30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure."
The newest rankings
With a score of 97.5 out of a possible 100, Melbourne topped the chart for the seventh year in a row.
The city scored perfect marks for education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Vienna, (which waits for you) also scored perfect marks in those categories. It slotted in at second because it ranked slightly lower in the categories of environment and culture. Third place honors went to Vancouver. It earned a perfect score in the former category.
Here then are the top 12 "most livable" cities according to The Global Liveability Report 2017:
- Melbourne, Australia
- Vienna, Austria
- Vancouver, Canada
- Toronto, Canada
- Calgary, Canada
- Adelaide, Australia
- Perth, Australia
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Helsinki, Finland
- Hamburg, Germany
- Sydney, Australia
- Montreal, Canada
Australia and Canada swept the awards. Both countries had four cities make it into the top 12.
The United Nations ranked both as two of the happiest places in the world on their World Happiness Report.
What about the US?
The US didn’t make the top 12. Some US cities even received lower scores. According to the report, this was because of "unrest" over African-American individuals being shot by police officers. The report adds that the U.S.
was besieged by protests over President Trump's political actions.
Other cities didn’t make the list because they were "victims of their own success.” Essentially, they grew to the point where they are now overpopulated. Big cities often have big troubles. The report states:
Paris, London, New York, and Tokyo are popular metropolises that feature a number of different things to see and do.
Unfortunately, those same locales have significantly more congestion, crime, and issues with public transportation that marked them as uncomfortable places to live.
The data reveals that the highest-scoring metros are mid-sized. They also have a comparatively smaller population. The report concludes:
These places offer people a lot of options in terms of things to do but are free of the congestion, high crime rates, and overstressed infrastructure.
