Top 10 Most Livable Cities In The World 2021

According to a new city ranking, one region of the world in particular came out of the pandemic well. Europe, on the other hand, is losing out in the competition for the best cities in terms of quality of life

The corona pandemic has massively affected the quality of life in cities. The experts of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) gave very much lower marks in their first ranking after the outbreak of the crisis than before.

The average value of the metropolises examined fell by seven points in the “Global Liveability Index 2021”, which reaches up to 100 points. The new front runner took first place with 96 points. This result would not even have been enough for tenth place before the Corona crisis.

Cities with the best quality of life

The pandemic created new conditions in the ranking of the cities with the highest quality of life in 2021. One region of the world placed six of the ten metropolises in the top 10, twice as many as in the previous study.

Those responsible there reacted quickly to the threat and, for example, closed the borders early on, explained the advisory service EIU, which belongs to the British Economist Group. By acting quickly, the pandemic in these cities could have been contained more quickly and restrictions could have been lifted more quickly.

The EIU examined the quality of life in 140 cities around the world. The experts relied on their own evaluations as well as on data from the World Bank and Transparency International. The situation in the metropolises between February 22 and March 21, 2021 was examined. The ranking is made up of these categories:

1. Stability: 25% of the final grade (e.g. crime rate, terrorist threat, unrest)

2. Culture and environment: 25% (climate, corruption, state censorship, sporting and cultural events)

3. Health care: 20% (including the quality of private and statutory health care)

4. Infrastructure: 20% (roads, public transport, quality of living conditions, supply of energy, water and telecommunications)

5. Education: 10% (private and public educational offers)

Ranking best cities in the world

According to the EIU, the analysis was supplemented by further indicators this year to show the response of local governments and administrations to the pandemic. This included continuing restrictions in public life and overburdened health systems.

According to the ranking, these cities offer the highest quality of life in the world around a year after the outbreak of the pandemic.

10. Brisbane

Australia dominates the ranking of the best cities in the world. It was represented with four metropolises in the top 10 in 2021, one more than in the previous ranking in 2019 (there was no edition in 2020 due to the pandemic).

One of the Australian climbers was Brisbane. It was now in tenth place with 92.4 points in the index. Brisbane scored the maximum of one hundred points in two categories. This has been achieved in health care and education. The Australian city still performed comparatively well in its weakest category, infrastructure (85.7 points).

9. Melbourne & 8. Geneva

Europe was among the losers in the ranking. Switzerland was the only country on the continent that was still in the top group of the best cities according to the EIU in 2021.

Geneva  shared eighth place with Melbourne (92.5 points each). The city in Switzerland particularly impressed with the full number of points for the healthcare system. "It couldn't be better," said the experts about the infrastructure and education in Melbourne.

7. Zurich

Alongside Geneva, Zurich was the only European city that made it into the top 10. Switzerland was not represented in the top group in 2019.

 Denmark and Austria have now dropped out of the top 10. Zurich came seventh with 92.8 points, although some social restrictions were still in force at the time of the study.

Like Geneva, the Swiss metropolis convinced with the full number of points for the health system. The analysts gave the education system in Switzerland a comparatively meager 83.3 points.

6. Perth

With 93.3 points, Perth ranked sixth among the most livable cities in the world according to the EIU. It was the second Australian climber in the top 10 (the country's largest city, Sydney, dropped out of the top group in 2021).

Perth was the only representative of the top 10 to receive three top marks - for health care, education and infrastructure. However, it also got the lowest individual mark: 78.2 points for “Culture & Environment”.

5. Wellington & 4. Tokyo

Tokyo was able to improve significantly shortly before the opening of the Olympic Games. It rose from seventh in the 2019 ranking to fourth. It shared that with newcomer Wellington (93.7 points each).

New Zealand was not in the top 10 at all in the 2019 leaderboard. This time two New Zealand metropolises moved into the top group. Tokyo received full marks for stability and health care. In the “Culture & Environment” category, however, the analysts only gave 84.0 points. New Zealand's capital only got top marks for education. In return, Wellington stayed above the 89 point mark in all areas.

3. Adelaide

The general strength of Australia pushed Adelaide from tenth to third place in the ranking (94.0 points). It left the domestic Australian competitors Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane behind.

The analysts praised, among other things, the international travel ban that Adelaide has imposed. Top grades for health and education helped here, as with most of the top 10 representatives from Australia, in the ascent. The worst individual grade was in Adelaide for “Culture & Environment” (83.8 points).

2. Osaka

Japan was represented by two major cities in the 2021 city ranking. Osaka was able to improve by two places to second place (94.2 points) and was thus again ahead of the capital Tokyo.

This was ensured by two top marks given by the EIU experts for stability and health care. In view of closed facilities and hygiene restrictions in Osaka, as in all metropolises of the top 10, “Culture & Environment” was the weak point.

1. Auckland

According to the EIU, Auckland was the city with the highest quality of life in the world in spring 2021. The New Zealand metropolis was last represented in the ranking in 2017, at that time in eighth place. Now it not only made it into the top 10, but also took first place.

According to the analysts, Auckland managed to contain the pandemic particularly quickly. As a result, the restrictions could have been lifted earlier than in other metropolises.

Auckland was only able to get the maximum number of points in the area of ​​education. In return, 92.9 points for the infrastructure were the worst value in the individual categories. In the end, the index value was 96.0 points.

In the previous ranking, however, it would not have even made it to tenth place. Vienna had first place in 2019 and 2018 with the almost perfect grade of 99 each, 1 point scored. In the 2021 ranking, it was no longer enough for the former leader to make it into the top 10.