Dhaka ‘second worst liveable city’

Dhaka continues to be one of the worst cities for living conditions as it has retained its status as the second worst liveable among the world’s 140 cities in this year’s Global Liveability Survey of the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The capital of Bangladesh was placed in the second position in the EIU’s survey last year too.

Damascus, capital city of the war-torn Syria, was ranked at the bottom of the liveability survey like last year.

The list was prepared based on the scores across a range of qualitative and quantitative factors, including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

Australia’s Melbourne has retained its position as the most liveable city in the world for the fifth consecutive year, outscoring three other Australian cities in the top 10.

Like last year, Vienna of Austria lies in second place followed by Canada’s Vancouver, which was the most liveable city surveyed until 2011.

According to the EIU’s Global Liveability Survey report, 13 of the poor-scoring cities continue to occupy the very bottom tier of liveability, where ratings fall below 50 percent and most aspects of living are severely restricted.

It mentioned conflict to be responsible for many of the lowest scores.

This is not only because stability indicators have the highest single scores, but also because factors defining stability spread to have an adverse effect on other categories, it added.

“For example, conflict will not just cause disruption in its own right, it will also damage infrastructure, overburden hospitals, and undermine the availability of goods, services and recreational activities.”

The Middle East, Africa and Asia account for all 13 cities with violence, whether through crime, civil insurgency, terrorism or war, playing a strong role, said the survey.

The other least liveable cities in the list are Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Tripoli (Libya), Douala (Cameroon), Harare (Zimbabwe), Algiers (Algeria), Karachi (Pakistan), Lagos (Nigeria), and Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea).

The top ranking cities are Melbourne (Australia), Vienna (Austria), Vancouver (Canada), Toronto (Canada), Adelaide (Australia), Calgary (Canada), Sydney (Australia), Helsinki (Finland), Perth (Australia), and Auckland (New Zealand).