Budapest among the fastest improving cities, according to a new list
Vienna continues to rank as the city with the best quality of life among the world’s major cities, while Budapest is among the fastest-improving cities and in the top fifth of this year’s global rankings, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), presented in London.
The EIU, one of the world’s largest analytical and forecasting agencies, has again assessed the quality of life in 173 cities in terms of stability, healthcare, education, culture and environment and infrastructure this year. The firm assigns numerical ratings to these and sums them up with different weightings in an overall quality index ranging from zero to 100, reports Turizmus.
In this year’s EIU Global Liveability Index 2024, the Austrian capital scored 98.4 out of 100. Vienna tops the list of the world’s major cities for the third year in a row, with Copenhagen, Zurich, Melbourne, Calgary, Geneva, Sydney, Vancouver, Osaka and Auckland also in the top ten.
Vienna tops the list of the world’s most liveable cities for the third year in a row, while Budapest has improved its ranking.
The 25 North American cities surveyed scored an average of 90.5 out of a maximum of 100, 0.1 percentage points lower than last year. This geographic region was ranked second best in this year’s EIU liveability ranking.
Budapest, however, is among the cities whose rankings on the list have improved the most over the last twelve months. Budapest scored 92.0 out of 100 points, moving up seven places to 32nd place.
The EIU concludes that Western Europe as a whole is also the most liveable region in the world. The average score of the 30 Western European cities on the 2024 Quality of Life list is 92, although this is 0.3 percentage points lower than last year, mainly due to the weakening of the stability criterion. The company attributes this to crime and to the protests in several major Western European cities, which have often caused serious upheaval.
Tel Aviv is the city that has dropped the most, with a score of 70.7 in this year’s EIU ranking, down 20 places from last year to number 112. According to the EIU, this drop was caused by the Hamas attack last October and the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas that has been ongoing ever since.
At the bottom of the EIU’s liveability ranking this year, at 173rd place, is Damascus, with an overall quality of life index of just 30.7 points. In addition to the Syrian capital, Tripoli in Libya, Algiers, Lagos, Karachi, Dhaka, Harare, Port Moresby, Kiev and Caracas are in the bottom ten with the worst quality of life.
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These lists are as useful as a $3 bill, and about as credible, too.
Try actually LIVING in Western European or American city, especially as a woman or a Jew, and then tell me how their “livability” compares to Budapest’s. How easy is it just walking down a street and feeling safe, even in broad daylight in many parts of Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, or London? And that’s before you factor in the costs involved in living there.
I agree with Steiner – if the city had a goverment that understands what they have – it would be off the charts. I’ve been to every large city in North America and many in Europe. Barcelona seems to pay attention to details and goes beyound any place I have been. Much of the character , charm and beauty was ripped out after the war , but so little has been done to address it.