Auckland in New Zealand has been ranked as the most liveable city in the whole world. The annual ranking was done based on how the country handled the coronavirus pandemic.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey ranked 140 cities on various factors such as stability, infrastructure, education and access to healthcare.
But this year. The deadly pandemic became the defining factor.
As per the ranking, the European cities fell while those in Australia, Japan and New Zealand rose.
The countries with high ranking responded quickly to the coronavirus outbreak. Thus, were able to minimise cases and loosen restrictions.
Meanwhile, the European Union countries had a slow start to their vaccine rollout.
So many states had to impose strict lockdowns which ultimately affected their performance in this year’s survey.
Auckland was at the top in the survey followed by Osaka in Japan, Adelaide in Australia, Wellington in New Zealand and the Japanese capital Tokyo.
No UK city was found in the list of top ten.
“Auckland rose to the top of the ranking owing to its successful approach in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, which allowed its society to remain open and the city to score strongly,” the EIU said.
“European cities fared particularly poorly in this year’s edition,” it added. “Eight of the top ten biggest falls in the rankings are European cities.”
Moreover, Vienna, the Austrian capital fell from first place to 12th. Vienna along with Melbourne shared the top spot in the ranking for several years.
The biggest fall among the European cities was observed in Hamburg in northern Germany. It fell from 34th position to 47th.
According to a study the German and French cities faced “stress on hospital resources” which resulted in a “deteriorated healthcare score”.
“Cities across the world are now much less liveable than they were before the pandemic began, and we’ve seen that regions such as Europe have been hit particularly hard,” the EIU said.
Furthermore, less shifting in the ranking was observed at the bottom as compared to the top.
Damascus city remains to be the city with the most difficult life because of Syria’s continuing civil war.
Many of the cities that ranked poorly have been blighted by conflict, which has put pressure on their health systems and infrastructure.
