The past five years have seen civil unrest becoming a globally destabilising factor, with a number of different reasons for discontent. Of these, just 30 have seen an improvement in scores, while 56 have seen liveability levels declining. Only 28 cities of the 140 surveyed have registered changes in the last 12 months, but 86 cities have experienced a change in liveability over the past five years. While this year’s EIU top ten is identical to last year’s ranking, this apparent stability hides longer-term trends that become apparent when taking a five-year view. Seen from such a western perspective, it is therefore not surprising that the survey's top cities are all located in wealthy western countries. The report's authors say that the survey quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. The 2013 EIU report, which describes the concept of livability as simple, is compiled for business people from western countries and used to work out hardship allowances as part of an expatriate's relocation package. Mercer Consulting's 50 best cities in the world

Not surprisingly, war-torn Damascus was named as worst city to live in.

Other German-speaking cities, such as Zürich, München, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, which are much favoured by Mercer don’t feature in the EIU’s top ten at all. Mercer ranks the Austrian capital top in the world, while the EIU puts it in second place. Both organisations agree, however, that for people who can choose where to live Vienna deserves serious consideration. While war-torn Damascus dropped to the bottomĪ report by the Economist Intelligence Unit 29 August 2013: The London-based Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) has again named Melbourne as the ‘best’ city in the world, whereas the US consultancy Mercer is less impressed by Australia’s second city, ranking it only 17th in its league table of the most liveable cities. Worldwide | Elections | North America | Latin America | Europe | Asia | Africa |īest cities in the world: Melbourne is still on top For the fourth year running, the Economist Intelligence Unit named Melbourne the 'best' city in the world

Melborune global city rank