World's Most Livable Cities

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The World's Most Livable Cities is an informal name given to any list of cities as they rank on a reputable annual survey of living conditions. The two best-known are the Mercer Quality of Living Survey and The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities. Another is the LivCom-Award, which separates cities in categories by population. This survey is supported by the UN.

The Economist Intelligence Unit's livability shows cities in Canada, Australia, Austria and Switzerland as the most ideal destinations thanks to a widespread availability of goods and services, low personal risk and an effective infrastructure. The report placed Vancouver, BC, Canada as the most livable city in the world, with Melbourne, Vienna and Geneva sharing joint second place. The survey said "In the current global political climate, it is no surprise that the most desirable destinations are those with a lower perceived threat of terrorism." ^[1]

Australia's other major cities (Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth) claimed positions in the top ten. Other Canadian cities also ranked highly in the survey. In addition to Vancouver, Canada's largest cities Toronto, Montreal and Calgary were all placed within the top 10, with Ottawa and Edmonton ranked within the top 25. Vienna, Austria, and Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland also ranked within the top ten.

Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, with its high level of violent crime, was rated the worst city in the world to call home. African, South Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern cities were generally the worst performing in the EIU's rankings.

According to the 2007 Mercer Quality of Life Survey the top five places included Zurich on 108.1 points, Geneva (108.0), Vancouver and Vienna on 107.7 points, Auckland and Dusseldorf on 107.3. Cities particularly from Switzerland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada rated well. All of Australia's major capitals were rated highly with Sydney at 9, Melbourne at 17, Perth at 21, Adelaide at 30 and Brisbane at 31. New Zealand's capital Wellington ranked at 12. Canada did equally as well with Vancouver at 3, Toronto at 15, Ottawa at 18, Montreal 22 and Calgary at 24. at The top-rated USA cities were Honolulu at 27 and San Francisco at 29.