Tehran Shows 4th Biggest Upturn in Economist’s Livability Index

EghtesadOnline: Tehran is one of the top five cities in the world to have improved by 5 percentage points or more in livability over the past five years, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

News ID: ۷۸۳۷۱۹

18 August 2018

The scores were compiled and weighted between 1 and 100, with 1 considered intolerable and 100 being ideal.

Tehran’s overall livability score is 50.8 out of 100, registering an improvement of 5% since 2013, while it ranks 128 out of 140, dropping one place compared to EIU's 2017 report.

The other four countries with improvements of 5 percentage points or more include Abidjan in Ivory Coast with the overall rating of 52.2 and an improvement of 6.3%, Hanoi in Vietnam with a score of 59.7 and 5.5% improvement, Belgrade in Serbia with a rating of 7,202 and an improvement of 5% and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam with the score of 57.1 and an improvement of 4.4% over the past five years, Financial Tribune reported.

EIU also assessed which locations across the world had the best or worst living conditions by looking at over 30 factors ranging from stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

The world’s most livable city was Vienna, followed by Melbourne, Osaka, Calgary and Sydney. Melbourne was dislodged by Vienna for the first time in seven years.

“It must be noted that ranking movements do not necessarily arise from a change in livability in the cities themselves, but reflect how cities compare with one another,” the report read.

EIU noted that of the 140 surveyed cities, 49% registered negative changes in their overall livability rank in the past six months and 34% experienced positive movements (the rest did not record any change).

At the other end of the table was Damascus, which was preceded by the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and Lagos in Nigeria. The survey did not include several of the world’s most dangerous capitals, such as Baghdad and Kabul.

The Economist Intelligence Unit is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, the sister company to The Economist newspaper. It specializes in country, risk and industry analyses.