Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary in top most liveable cities in the world

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      Vancouver has done it again.

      Our city has made the cut for the top most liveable cities in the world, which was dominated by Canadian and Australian cities.

      The Economist's list of the top most liveable cities in the world has given the top spot to Melbourne, Australia, which has held that position for the past three years. After Vienna, Austria, three Canadian cities rounded out the top five: Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary tied with Adelaide.

      Vancouver, which topped the list for a decade until 2011, remained the top North American city.

      Vancouver fared well due to a record low number of murders in 2013 (following a decade-long decrease).

      The top 10 cities are:

      1. Melbourne, Australia

      2. Vienna, Austria

      3. Vancouver, Canada

      4. Toronto, Canada

      5. Calgary, Canada (tied)

      5. Adelaide, Australia (tied)

      7. Sydney, Australia

      8. Helsinki, Finland

      9. Perth, Australia

      10. Auckland, New Zealand

      The Liveability report by the Economist Intelligence Unit evaluated 140 cities on 30 factors ranging from public health care to the threat of military conflict to create scores in five areas: stability, infrastructure, education, health care, and culture and environment.

      Mid-sized cities in affluent countries with low population densities fare best in results due to an abundance of recreation activities without high crime levels or overextended infrastructure.

      Global business centres such as New York City, Paris, Tokyo, and London benefit from strong reputations and numerous recreational activities but have high crime rates, and congestion and public transportation problems.

      Due to an increased number of global hotspots of instability, the overall results reflect a longterm deterioration of scores. The average global liveability score has decreased by 0.22 percent over the last year and 0.68 percent over the past five years (the latter of which reflects instability created by the global economic crisis).

      The Russian cities St. Petersburg and Moscow; Kiev, the capital of Ukraine; Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria; Athens, Greece; and Bangkok, Thailand, all declined in scores.

      The bottom 10 cities are:

      131. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

      132. Tripoli, Libya

      133. Douala, Cameroon

      134. Harare, Zimbabwe

      135. Algiers, Algeria

      136. Karachi, Pakistan

      137. Lagos, Nigeria

      138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

      139. Dhaka, Bangladesh

      140. Damascus, Syria

      Comments

      4 Comments

      James Blatchford

      Aug 20, 2014 at 4:50am

      Third in the world, eh?...top in North America. That should give us plenty to grumble about. Bitchin' bike lanes..bitchin' cars...bitchin' transit..bitchin' developers...bitchin' injection site....bitchin' weather. Did I mention Marc Emery?.... Bitchin' Marc Emery....

      MarkFornataro

      Aug 20, 2014 at 10:32am

      During his election campaign Rob 'Ford more beers'Ford could make the point that Toronto ranks well due to his crack performance in office.