World’s best liveable cities: Curious about the most desirable cities to live in the world? As we move into 2024, several cities around the world are emerging as highly desirable places to live. These cities offer economic opportunity, quality of life, and livability that make them stand out.
Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) assesses cities worldwide, revealing their findings in the much-anticipated Global Liveability Index 2024. Find out which cities make the cut and why they shine as the best places to call home.
Vienna tops the list again!
Vienna, Austria, has been named the best city to live in for the third consecutive year. With perfect scores in stability, healthcare, and education, Vienna is celebrated for its unique combination of cultural vibrancy and exceptional public services.
“This year, Vienna once again got perfect scores (of 100) for four of the five categories, although its score for culture and environment was a less-perfect 93.5, owing to a lack of major sporting events,”
Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU
European dominance in the World’s Best Livable Cities List
Overall, Western Europe dominates the list of the world’s best liveable cities, with eight cities in the top 20. Copenhagen, Denmark, came in second on the list for the third year in a row. In 2024, Zurich, Switzerland, took third place on the list, replacing Melbourne, Australia, a position it held in 2022. You can compare these results to those in 2023 and 2022.
List of Best Livable Cities in 2024
Four cities in the Asia-Pacific region—Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, Osaka in Japan, and Auckland in New Zealand—have been listed among the top ten most liveable cities in the world this year. The cities in Australasia have consistently ranked in the top 20. However, this year, we have lowered the overall infrastructure scores for Australia due to an ongoing housing crisis, resulting in a historically low availability of rental properties in many cities.
The 10 Worst Cities to Live in 2024
Here is the list of the worst cities to live in 2024.
- Caracas, Venezuela
- Kyiv, Ukraine
- Port Moresby, PNG
- Harare, Zimbabwe
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Karachi, Pakistan
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Algiers, Algeria
- Tripoli, Libya
- Damascus, Syria
The cities in the Middle East and North Africa exhibit a diverse range of conditions. Following the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Tel Aviv dropped 20 places to 112th in the livability rankings. Although regional stability scores were affected by the conflict, many Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have shown significant enhancements in education and healthcare, contributing to an improved overall quality of life. Notably, cities in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar) experienced the greatest score increases.
