29-6-2023 (MANILA) The capital city of Metro Manila has slipped four places to 136th out of 173 cities in this year’s livability ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The annual report evaluates livability based on 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
While Manila saw improvements in culture and environment, moving from 53.5 to 63, and in education, rising from 58.3 to 66.7, it experienced a decline in stability, dropping from 60 to 55. The city maintained its scores of 64.3 in infrastructure and 58.3 in healthcare.
This change in ranking comes in the context of overall improvement in livability for many countries, as stated in the report. The average score across cities reached a 15-year high, attributed to the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and advancements in healthcare and education in developing nations.
Globally, Vienna, Austria secured the top spot with a score of 99.1, followed by Copenhagen, Denmark in second place with 98, and Zurich, Switzerland in third place with 96.3. Other cities in the top 10 included Calgary and Vancouver in Canada, Geneva in Switzerland, Frankfurt in Germany, Toronto in Canada, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Osaka in Japan, and Melbourne in Australia.
On the other end of the spectrum, Damascus, Syria, and Lagos, Nigeria ranked as the least livable cities due to ongoing wars, conflicts, and terrorism. The study also considered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on living conditions, particularly in terms of healthcare infrastructure and government-imposed restrictions and lockdown measures, which affected the healthcare, culture and environment, and education categories.
