Along with Vienna, three other European cities made the top 10 in a year where global instability and rising living costs took their toll.
There are many adjectives to describe Vienna: beautiful, historic, scenic, cultural. Now you can add another one to the list: consistent.
For the third year in a row, the capital of Austria has been selected as the most livable city in the world among 173 cities included in the annual Global Quality of Living Index of “The Economist” magazine.
The city’s top spot seems elusive, with 2024 marking the ninth time it has held the top spot in the last 11 index reports.
With perfect scores in four out of five categories this year, Vienna has by no means had a clean slate, but given its continued dominance, its citizens seem to have written the book on living well.
Most of this year’s top 10 remain unchanged from 2023, although there have been changes in the fortunes of one or two cities that have moved up or down the rankings.
In particular, the fact that Western European cities occupy both the top three places and a total of four places at the top of the table is a remarkable change.
How are world rankings determined?
Quality of life is a subjective concept, and The Economist’s Global Quality of Life Index is certainly not infallible. However, scores are determined by a number of criteria.
Each city’s overall ranking is summed up based on average scores out of 100 in five different categories: stability, culture and environment, education, health and infrastructure.
30 data and analysis points across five broad categories help inform the score for each category.
For example, in the category of stability, the threat of terrorism, civil unrest, and the level of crime are taken into account. The quality and availability of services in health and education are checked. In the infrastructure category, public transport, roads, transport connections, housing and communal services are evaluated.
Thanks to improvements in areas such as education and healthcare, the average score rose to 76.1 out of 100 this year. However, stability is the only category where ratings have dropped.
In addition to protests over immigration and agriculture in Europe, civil unrest and wars elsewhere in the world, the ongoing cost of the housing crisis continues to loom large.
Inflation was cited as the main cause of the housing crisis in several cities, particularly in Australia and Canada, where the availability of rental housing is low and the cost of buying property is rising.
Eastern Europe reaches the West
Mirroring Vienna’s success in The Economist’s index, Western Europe also remains the world’s most liveable region, ranking highest in four out of five categories.
This year, the ranking includes at least 30 Western European cities that scored 92 out of 100 points.
However, the survey noted that the region’s overall score fell from last year due to increased instability, rocked by devastating protests in countries such as Germany and Ireland.
Among all regions, the greatest improvement was seen in Eastern Europe, which ranked fourth in terms of higher education and health outcomes.
Among the cities that rose the most in the ranking was Budapest, which gained 92 points and moved up seven places to 32nd place.
Belgrade and Bucharest (both with 74.5 points) rose six and five places respectively to 94th place.
Among the cities with the largest decline, eight cities in Western Europe have fallen in the ranking. Dublin was the biggest drop, dropping seven places to 39th.
German cities generally saw the biggest declines, with Munich falling six places to 27th, tied with Hamburg, which fell five places.
Stuttgart, Berlin and Düsseldorf, Brussels and Barcelona also fell in the ranking.
The biggest drop was in Tel Aviv, which dropped 20 places from 92nd to 112th, hit hard by lower stability scores due to the impact of the war in Gaza, as well as only in the culture and environment and infrastructure categories.
So who made the top 10?
9. Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland made the second-best progress in 2023, climbing 25 places to enter the top 10. It managed to maintain its position in 2024 with consistently high scores in all five categories and a perfect 100 in education.
9. Osaka, Japan
The other city that didn’t make the move, Osaka, is the only Japanese city represented in the top 10 and the only Asian city. It received the lowest score among the 10 cities for culture and environment at 86.8 and a perfect 100 in the stability, health and education categories.
7. Vancouver, Canada
While Toronto dropped out of the top 10 this year, Vancouver was able to maintain its top spot despite falling two spots this year. As in other cities across Canada, as well as Australia, housing was a major factor in this year’s decline.
7. Sydney, Australia
Although the top 10 European cities in 2024 will see a rise in the rankings, like Melbourne, Sydney has fallen 3 places this year to 7th position due to the current housing shortage.
5. Geneva, Switzerland
The Swiss city of Geneva managed to maintain its level, while others fell, rising from 7th place, tied with Calgary in 2023, to 5th place this year, tied with the Canadian city. Geneva, the only Swiss city in the top 10, was penalized slightly for its cultural offering, tied with Zurich.
5. Calgary, Canada
Contrary to the trend seen among other Canadian cities in the top 10, Calgary improved its ranking in 2024, moving up two spots to regain some of the ground it lost after finishing third in 2022. It was only one of four cities in the top 10. to get 100 points for stability.
4. Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne saw a smaller decline than Sydney in 2024, losing just one place, but still faced similar housing affordability and availability challenges. However, health and education were rated highly with 100 points respectively.
3. Zurich, Switzerland
Switzerland’s largest city rose from sixth place in 2023 to third place in 2024 thanks to excellent health and education results. Zurich, like the others mentioned in the top 3, regularly features in the index of the best places to work and live, but it is also one of the most expensive cities in the world.
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
The Danes seem to be more than happy to be in second place after Vienna, retaining second place for the third year in a row. Denmark is also consistently ranked as the second happiest country in the world after Finland. So there’s something to be said for living in a country’s capital to be satisfied with its lifestyle. Copenhagen maintains perfect scores for stability, education and infrastructure.
1. Vienna, Austria
This year, Vienna achieved 100 points in four of the five categories, but as last year, the city was penalized with a 93.5 in the culture and environment category due to the lack of major sports events. Still, high scores in most categories are enough to knock Copenhagen out of the top spot.