Dublin has been ranked as the 41st most liveable city in the world, according to the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index. Dublin scored a total of 90.7 out of a possible 100. According to the rankings, this means that there are “few, if any challenges to living standards”.
This is an increase of 2 places from last year, when Dublin was ranked at joint 43rd, alongside Milan, with a score of 89.5. With its current score, Dublin overtakes London and New York, who came 48th and 57th respectively.
Dublin has seen a rise of five places since 2004, when it was ranked in 46th place.
Vienna was ranked as the most liveable city with a score of 99.1, overtaking Melbourne which came second for the first time in seven years. This result has been attributed to the downgraded threat of militant attacks in Western Europe and their low crime rate.
The Japanese city of Osaka was ranked 3rd, with the top 10 being dominated by Australian and Canadian cities, with each of these countries having three cities included. Australia also sees Sydney in 5th place and Adelaide in 10th place, while Canada hosts Calgary in 4th place, Vancouver in 6th place, and Toronto in 7th place. The only other European city to be included was Copenhagen, which finished 9th.
The rankings are based on the topics of stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. These topics consist of 30 quantitative and qualitative criteria, which are used to rank the 140 cities across the world.
The least liveable city in the world was Damascus, followed by Dhaka, Lagos, Karachi and Port Moresby.
The largest improvements in liveability were seen in Abidijan, Hanoi, Belgrade and Tehran, which have each seen an improvement of over 5% in the last five years. Kiev saw the largest decrease, with a 12.6% reduction over the last five years.
Researchers have stated that the cities which score highest tend to be “mid-sized cities in wealthier countries”. They also often have relatively low population densities which foster “a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure”.
Dublin was also recently ranked 34th in Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey, which also placed it ahead of all other cities located in Ireland and all cities in the UK. According to Mercer, this was due to a “stable political environment, low levels of air pollution and a strong socio cultural environment”.
The results come as a number of occupations in protest of a lack of affordable housing have taken place in recent months. Members of Take Back Trinity are currently occupying a house in Dublin’s Summerhill Parade, where they received a notice to vacate the property in the High Court this morning.
