The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently revealed its Global Liveability Ranking for 2021 and has placed Karachi at the bottom of the list. With a ranking of the 7th position, the economic hub of Pakistan is once again the world’s least desirable place to live in.
For 2019, the Global Liveability Ranking placed Karachi in 5th place, while in 2018, it was ranked 4th. The ranking may appear to be improving as Karachi seems to be moving away from the top 5 worst cities to live in.
However, Upsana Dutt, Head of Global Liveability at the EIU has said, “One area where there has been regrettably little change is at the bottom of our rankings.”
“Indeed, most of the previous ten least liveable cities remain in the bottom ten this year, including Dhaka and Karachi in the Asia-Pacific region,” the Head of EIU further added.
Read more: ‘Karachi needs permanent solutions’: An interview with former mayor Waseem Akhtar
According to this year’s Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Damascus remains the world’s least liveable city, while Bangladesh capital Dhaka was put on 4th.
The ten most and least liveable cities in 2021.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey ranked 140 cities on factors including stability, infrastructure, education and access to healthcare. #cities pic.twitter.com/VF7l4yXcca— Soutik Biswas (@soutikBBC) June 9, 2021
Overall, with an average score of 68.6, cities in the Asia-Pacific region scored below the average of 73.09.
The 2021 ranking is also based on how successful a city was in its approach to containing the Covid-19 pandemic. As per this factor, New Zealand’s Auckland tops the Global Liveability Index 2021 owing to its strong response to the pandemic and then later lifting restrictions earlier than other cities around the world.
Read more: How New Zealand beat Coronavirus?
According to the EIU survey, six of the top 10 cities are in New Zealand and Australia, where tighter border controls from the early days of the pandemic allowed citizens to live a relatively normal life.
Decline of European cities
The Covid pandemic has affected the rankings of all the cities. As per the EIU, European cities fared particularly poorly in this year’s edition.
“Eight of the top ten biggest falls in the rankings are European cities,” said EIU.
European cities have become less livable due to the #coronavirus pandemic. Whereas on the other hand, cities in Oceania and #Japan grab the first six spots on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2021.#Europe #COVID19 https://t.co/P4C4W90Hv5
— The World Reviews (@tworldreviews) June 11, 2021
One example of cities facing a dip in rankings is the Austrian city of Vienna, which is usually one of the top ten most liveable cities, but it has gone down to the 12th position this year. Hamburg in northern Germany witnessed the most dramatic fall—dropping 34 places to 47th.
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