‘Vienna tops Melbourne as world’s most liveable city’

VIENNA (Reuters) — Vienna has dislodged Melbourne for the first time at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s global Liveability Index, strengthening the Austrian capital’s claim to being the world’s most pleasant city to live in.

The two metropolises have been neck and neck in the annual survey of 140 urban centres for years, with Melbourne clinching the title for the past seven editions.

This year, a downgraded threat of militant attacks in western Europe as well as the city’s low crime rate helped nudge Vienna into first place.

It is the first time a European metropolis has topped the annual chart. Vienna regularly tops a larger ranking of cities by quality of life compiled by consulting firm Mercer.

In Asia, Osaka and Tokyo moved up the ranks to join EIU’s top 10 most liveable cities, coming in third and seventh place respectively.

Singapore is the 11th most liveable city in Asia, but fell two places to 37th spot overall, while Hong Kong climbed from 45th to 35th spot overall. Singapore had overtaken Hong Kong to take the 35th spot in 2017.

Although Hong Kong was overtaken by Singapore in the rankings for the first time in 2017, the city surpassed Singapore this year, albeit with only a marginal difference in score of 0.1 per cent overall, said The

Economist in a press release issued yesterday.