The EIU assessed 173 cities across the planet, based on a comprehensive set of indicators including healthcare, education, political and social stability, quality of infrastructure and livability. This multidimensional approach aims to provide insight into the quality of urban life on a global scale.
The Danish city of Copenhagen has officially won the title of "World's Most Liveable City" in the 2025 annual ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) - a prestigious economic research agency of the global media group The Economist. This victory marks an important milestone, when Copenhagen achieved an absolute "perfect" score in key criteria such as stability, quality of education and outstanding infrastructure.
It's no coincidence that the Danes affectionately nickname their capital "Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen"
This city is a typical model of a livable urban area: safe, clean, green, smart traffic infrastructure, high-class education and especially the balance between modernity and sustainable living environment.
Continuing to assert its position, Australia's Melbourne maintained its fourth place, while Switzerland's Geneva held on to fifth place in this prestigious list. Outside the top five, other cities also recorded impressive progress or maintained their performance. Australia's Sydney made a spectacular jump, rising from seventh place overall to sixth place. Japan's Osaka and New Zealand's Auckland tied for seventh place, demonstrating the sustainability and high quality of life in the Asia-Pacific region. Notably, Adelaide became the third Australian city to enter the top 10, taking ninth place, and Canada's Vancouver completed the top 10 in tenth place.
This year, three Australian cities continue to appear in the top 10, including Melbourne (4th) – Australia’s largest cultural and educational center. Sydney (6th) – up two places from last year thanks to improvements in transport and healthcare. Adelaide (9th)
Meanwhile, Osaka (Japan) and Auckland (New Zealand) ranked 7th, both highly rated for public services and urban infrastructure.
The most notable highlight of this year’s report is Vienna’s drop in the rankings. While the city still scores highly in most categories, its stability score has dropped significantly. According to the EIU, this is due to recent incidents, notably a bomb threat at a Taylor Swift concert last summer, which led to the abrupt cancellation of the event, which has negatively impacted the stability index of the otherwise peaceful city.
Vienna's fall from the top spot came as a surprise to many, as it still scores highly in most categories including healthcare, education, environment and infrastructure.
“Global liveability remained unchanged over the past year and, as in 2024, stability scores declined globally. Pressure on stability saw Vienna lose its position as the most liveable city after three years,” Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy sector director at the EIU, said in a statement. “This shows that even leading cities are not immune to security and stability challenges.
Vienna is not alone. Calgary, Canada, which was ranked fifth in 2024, has fallen out of the top 10 and into 18th place this year. The main reason is attributed to lower healthcare scores, similar to the other three Canadian cities, reflecting the growing pressure on the country’s health system. Bhattacharyya also added that stability scores dropped in 2024 for Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and this trend continues in Asia in this year’s rankings.
Three other major Canadian cities – Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa – all fell in the rankings due to medical staff shortages and long wait times.
While many major cities face challenges, there are some notable bright spots. Saudi Arabia’s Al Khobar made an impressive leap, rising 13 places from 148 to 135. This improvement is the result of significant investments the Kingdom has made to improve access to healthcare and education as part of its Vision 2030, a strategic plan to diversify the economy and reduce its dependence on oil. Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, also made a strong performance, rising 10 places from 142 to 132, thanks to core improvements in stability in a developing region.
However, it is not surprising that the bottom of the list remains a grim picture. Damascus, Syria, remains the world’s least liveable city, six months after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad, reflecting the continued instability and crisis. Tripoli, Libya, is second to last, while Dhaka, Bangladesh, is third from bottom. Karachi, Pakistan, and Algiers, Algeria, also feature in the top five least liveable cities, reflecting the persistent challenges to stability, infrastructure, and livability in these regions.
