Following a survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Vienna retained the leading spot as the world’s most liveable city. The criteria looked at to determine the ranking, The Economist considered stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Vienna got a total rating of 99.1 out of 100 to claim the title for the second time in a row. In the press release, the EIU stated ‘Western Europe and North America continue to be the most liveable regions in the world.’ The Austrian capital placed ahead of Melbourne, which had topped the list for 7 years until 2018. 

The survey is carried out on an annual basis and examines 140 cities. This year, 8 cities from the top 20 were European with the rest being Japanese, Australian, Canadian and cities in New Zealand. The EIU report also observed how climate change has left its mark on liveability, highlighted from the final placing of new Delhi and Cairo, which dropped to 118th and 125th respectively. The Economist said that this was a result of ‘poor air quality, undesirable average temperatures and inadequate water provision.’

Agathe Demarais, from the EIU explained, ‘We expect problems relating to climate change to put increasing pressure on liveability scores in the coming years and for the number of cities affected to grow.’