Dhaka has been placed seventh in the Global Liveability Index 2023, making it one of the least livable cities worldwide. Shockingly, Dhaka even falls two positions below the war-torn Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in the rankings.
Kyiv, which has been significantly affected by conflict, secured the ninth spot with a score of 44.0.
Dhaka shares its dismal ranking as the worst city with Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, both scoring 43.8 out of 100. This is consistent with Dhaka’s position in the 2022 rankings, indicating no improvement in its livability status.
The survey was published on Wednesday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of the Economist Group.
In terms of livability, cities ranked at the bottom are Damascus, the capital of Syria (173), Tripoli, the capital of Libya (172), Algiers, Algeria (171), Lagos, Nigeria (170), and Karachi, Pakistan (169).
The EIU ranked the cities based on more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors and five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
In the index, Dhaka scored 50 in sustainability, 41.7 in healthcare, 40.5 in culture and environment, 75 in education and 26.8 in infrastructure.
The most livable city, according to the report, is Austria’s Vienna, with a score of 98.4, followed by Copenhagen in Denmark and Melbourne in Australia in second and third place, respectively.
The report said that a shift back towards normalcy after the Covid-19 pandemic and incremental improvements in livability made by many developing countries have been the biggest drivers of changes in the EIU’s global livability rankings.
With the easing of Covid restrictions, the 2023 survey (conducted between February 13 and March 12) shows a noticeable improvement across the world.
The average index score across all cities in the survey has now reached 76.2 out of 100, up from 73.2 a year ago, it said.
The Livability Index significantly increased in 2023. This is the highest score in 15 years for the original comparable list of 140 cities as the world moves on from the Covid-19 pandemic and healthcare and education scores improve in many cities in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
However, scores for stability have slipped backwards since last year amid several instances of civil unrest around the world, according to the EIU.
Asia-Pacific cities have made some of the biggest gains, accounting for eight of the top ten movers up the rankings as economies recover from the pandemic, it added.
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