Stability, healthcare, culture/environment, education, and infrastructure. These are the metrics in which the Economist Intelligence Unit use to rank the stability and liveability of cities across the world.
An academic study into the state of the modern world, the EIU have published their most recent findings, taking 140 urban hubs and looking at which places are good, or bad to live in.
Cities in in more economically developed regions of Europe and Australasia come out favorably in the findings. Conversely, urban centres rocked by terrorism and political unrest are deemed to be the ‘worst’ areas to live in.
10. Kiev, Ukraine
Kiev came 10th on the list of worst cities in the world to live in. The only European city to make the list, the capital city of Ukraine scored 47.8/100 points. The EIU demed the city as vulnerable to economic instability and unrest, particularly as tensions in the nearby Donbass remain fraught following the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution.
9. Douala, Cameroon
The largest city in Cameroon, Douala came with a living standard score of 44 out of 100 points. While the city was once regarded as having the highest standards of living in Africa, recent tensions between the English-speaking and French-speaking areas have cause damage to the city’s infrastructure, with the EIU particularly highlighting the poor standard of healthcare in the city,
8. Harare, Zimbabwe
The capital of Zimbabwe scored 42.6 out of 100 points in the EIU metric. Harare was viewed to have poor livability in terms of healthcare (getting 20.8 points), but did receive a mention for its better-than-average education system (66.7 points).
7. Karachi, Pakistan
Karachi in Pakistan is one of the largest urban centres in the world, boasting a population of around 27.5 million people. While the EIU highlighted Karachi’s decent education (66.7 points) and city infrastructure (with 51.8 points) standards, Karachi scored poorly for sustainability and eventually earned a sum total score of 40.9/100 points.
6. Algiers, Algeria
The capital city of Algeria, Algiers tied with Karachi on the EIU’s list for the ‘title’ of seventh worst city to live. Algiers also received an overall score of 40.9/100, with the report mentioning its poor infrastructure (30.4 points), and satisfactory education (50 points).
5. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Port Morseby is the capital of Papua New Guinea and is now for its rapid annual growth in population. As a result, the city scored poorly with the EIU for sustainability (30 points) and earned adequate scores for education and (50 points) and culture and environment (47 points). Port Morseby’s final overall score was 39.6/100 points.
4. Dhaka, Bangladesh
The capital and most populous city of Bangladesh, Dhaka came out of the EIU report with an overall score of 38.7 out of 100 points. The report awarded Dhaka 26.8 points for infrastructure, but did give it a respectable score of 50 for sustainability.
3. Tripoli, Libya
The capital city of Libya has been troubled by violent activity from the so called Islamic State in recent years and as such scored lowly in the EIU report, with an overall score of 36.6 out of 100.
2. Lagos, Nigeria
Nigeria’s most populous city Lagos has also been plagued by violent activity from terrorist groups, with movements from Boko Haram gravely endangering lives and threatening the city’s stability. As such Lagos was given an overall score of 36 out of 100 points in the EIU report.
1. Damascus, Syria
The situation in the Syrian capital has been critical in the years following the Syrian Civil War. Damascus, one of the oldest cities in human history, is now scene to frequent violent scenes, and as such scored particularly low in EIU’s livability metric, and was given an overall score of 30.2 out of 100 points.
(Images: Rex/Creative Commons)
Latest
Related Reviews and Shortlists
10 Best wet shavers for men
