World’s most liveable city revealed in new EIU ranking
Copenhagen has retained its title as the world’s most liveable city in the Global Liveability Index 2026 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The Danish capital topped the ranking for the second year in a row, scoring 98 out of 100. Vienna placed second, followed by Melbourne in third. Sydney, Zurich, Geneva, Osaka, Adelaide, Vancouver and Tokyo also made the top ten.
The index assesses 173 cities across more than 30 indicators grouped into five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. The global average liveability score remained unchanged from last year at 76.1 out of 100.
According to the report, Western Europe remains the strongest region for liveability, with an average score of 91.7, slightly ahead of North America at 90.4. However, Asia showed the strongest improvement this year, driven by better scores in healthcare, especially in Chinese cities, and gains in Japan.
The EIU noted that global stability scores continued to decline, falling by an average of 0.5 points across the cities surveyed. The Middle East and North Africa saw the sharpest regional drop, with the average score down by one point. Muscat and Kuwait City recorded the biggest declines in the ranking, falling by 14 and 12 places, respectively.
At the bottom of the ranking, Damascus remained the world’s least liveable city, followed by Tripoli, Dhaka, Karachi and Algiers.
The biggest upward movers included Fuzhou, Lisbon, Wuxi, Nanjing and Zhuhai. New York also improved its position, gaining three places in the ranking due to a stronger stability score.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Astana had been listed among the safer cities in the Crime Index by City 2026 Mid-Year ranking.
