The Viennese sweetness of life is not a legend. The city of Vienna, Austria, comes for the fourth time in five years at the top of the most pleasant cities in the world, according to an annual ranking published this Thursday, June 22.
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In 2022, the Austrian capital took over the lead in this ranking of 173 cities produced by “The Economist Intelligence Unit”, the research and analysis unit affiliated with the british weekly The Economist.
In France, “the demonstrations against the pension reform have penalized the classification” of Paris and Lyon, explain the authors of the study. The capital of France has gone from 19th position in 2022 to 24th in 2023, and Lyon from 25th to 30th place. By way of comparison, in 2023 London is in 46th position, a loss of 12 places compared to last year, and New York in 69th, a loss of 10 places in one year.
Australia, Switzerland and Canada very represented
The index is based on 30 qualitative and quantitative criteria in the following areas: stability, health system, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
The Austrian capital Vienna offers an almost ideal combination of these five factors and is only penalized by the lack of major sporting events. It is followed by Copenhagen, which comes in 2nd place, and by Melbourne, which held the 1st place in this ranking for years, while another Australian city, Sydney, is in 4th place.
Between 5th and 9th place are Swiss and Canadian cities: Vancouver, Zurich, Calgary, Geneva and Toronto, while Osaka (Japan) and Auckland (New Zealand) are both in 10th place.
Damascus, the city where we live the least well
In 2023, in all the cities studied, the average index of the quality of life reaches its highest level for 15 years, with scores rising in the areas of health, education and culture with the end of pandemic-related measures. On the other hand, the ratings in terms of stability have dropped in many cities, particularly in Europe because of the demonstrations which have marked a number of them.
The cities in Asia and Oceania are those that have progressed the most in one year: Wellington (New Zealand) has gained 35 places in the ranking, Hanoi (Vietnam) 20, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) 19. The soft underbelly is composed of many Chinese cities.
In Ukraine, Kiev marks its return in the 2023 ranking but is now in 165th place, while Damascus in Syria has remained since 2015 the city in the world where people live the least well.
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“Inflation could lead to further declines in stability scores, and therefore hurt overall livability scores, in many parts of the world over the next year,” warns. The Economist.