Auckland, New Zealand has made it to the top spot of the world’s most liveable cities, as per The Economist’s annual survey. Osaka and Tokyo come in second and third, with Adelaide in Australia and Wellington in New Zealand are next on the list—all the cities are said to have a swift response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Auckland rose to the top of the ranking owing to its successful approach in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, which allowed its society to remain open and the city to score strongly," the Economist Intelligence Unit told Reuters.
According to the report, European cities haven’t fared as well. According to the study, "Vienna, previously the world's most liveable city between 2018-20, fell to 12th. Eight of the top ten biggest falls in the rankings are European cities."
Factors like healthcare systems and hospital resources affected rankings to a large extent.
As per the study, the tough lockdown in Auckland allowed life to reopen and go back to the lifestyle before the pandemic sooner.
Other cities in the top ten include Perth, Zurich, Geneva, Melbourne and Brisbane. Prague, Jakarta, Athens and Hamburg on the other hand, have fared badly.
Some of the indicators that decided the ranking of the cities included restrictions on local sporting events—while calculating scores for the healthcare, culture and environment, and education categories; how each city handled the pandemic, how quickly vaccines were rolled out and the level of border restrictions put in place has led to major changes in the rankings.
Honolulu, Hawaii, in the US came 14th in the ranking because it contained the pandemic effectively and was quick to roll out a vaccination programme.
Damascus remains the city where life is most difficult because of Syria's ongoing civil war. Other least liveable cities include Lagos, Nigeria; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Algiers, Algeria
