10 Best Cities According to Liveability Survey 2013

As you know I’ve featured lists that have recognized various areas that Canada ranks globally such as best country to live, smartest countries, the happiest countries, the  most peaceful countries, the most sustainable countries, the friendliest countries, the most charitable countries, the most prosperous countries, the best countries for quality of life, the best countries for business, the top countries for life expectancy, the best countries for working women, the best country for world travel & tourism, the best countries for human development, the top countries for Clean Capitalism, the best country for child well-being, the best countries from social progress, the best countries for higher education, the most popular countries, the least corrupt countries, the best countries for paid vacation days, the countries with the best reputation, the best countries for global professionals, the best countries for ease of doing business, the best countries for starting a business, the best country for business, the best country for customer satisfaction and the most gay positive country. I’m continuing this trend today with a look at the 10 most liveable cities in 2013 from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Liveability Survey.

 “The concept of liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions.”

We covered the 2012 edition of this Liveability Survey which has a  broad range of uses.  It started out as “a means of testing whether Human Resource Departments needed to assign a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages. While this function is still a central potential use of the survey, it has also evolved as a broad means of benchmarking cities.”

The study includes 140 cities scored on “30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.” The score is calculated overall and for each category “relative to New York and an overall position in the ranking of 140 cities” was determined. Based on EIU’s methodology, the 10 most liveable cities in 2013 are:

• 1)  Melbourne, Australia – Score: 97.5. Melbourne’s highest score were perfect marks in the categories: healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
• 2)  Vienna, Austria – Score: 97.4. Vienna’s highest scores were in the same categories as Melbourne, it was a lower score in culture & environment that determined the difference between the two cities.
• 3)  Vancouver, Canada – Score: 97.3. Vancouver achieved perfect scores in healthcare, culture & environment and education to earn its 3rd place finish.
• 4)  Toronto, Canada – Score: 97.2. Toronto achieved a 4th place finish by earning perfect scores when it came to stability, healthcare and education.
• 5)  Calgary, Canada – Score: 96.6. Much like Toronto it was perfect scores in stability, healthcare and education that earned Calgary its 5th place tie.
• 5)  Adelaide, Australia – Score: 96.6. Perfect scores in healthcare and education helped Adelaide tie Calgary for 5th place.
• 7)  Sydney, Australia – Score: 96.1. Sydney’s high marks were perfect scores in healthcare and education.
• 8)  Helsinki, Finland – Score: 96.0. Helsinki’s high score was a perfect one in the stability category.
• 9)  Perth, Australia – Score: 95.9. As the 9th place city, its highest score was perfect in healthcare.
• 10) Auckland, New Zealand – Score: 95.7. A perfect score in education helped Auckland earn its place in the top ten.

Australia’s four cities in the top ten made it the most ranked country on our list followed by Canada with three cities. The USA didn’t have any cities make the top ten of this survey.

Reports of this nature are becoming increasingly important and regularly used by “city councils, organisations or corporate entities looking to test their locations against others to see general areas where liveability can differ.”  This is important when planning business, investment or resource relocation, development and expansion.

Congratulations to Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary for once again representing the Great White North by finishing in the top five.

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