If meeting friends in a coffeehouse, indulging in Sacher torte, and spending evenings and weekends enjoying concerts, operas, and museums sounds like the ideal lifestyle, you’ll likely agree with the 2022 Global Livability Index published by The Economist. For the third time in five years, Vienna has topped the list of most livable cities.
The Global Livability Index is produced each year by the Economist Intelligence Unitof The Economist, which rates cities on more than 30 factors across five weighted categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
The "stability" category, weighted at 25%, considers the prevalence of crime and threats of military, terror, or civil conflicts. At 20% of the total, the "health care" section looks at availability and quality of private and public health care. "Culture and environment," meanwhile, covers climate, weather, social and religious restrictions, availability of consumer goods and services, and sporting access, for 25% of the total rating. And the "education" portion, weighted at 10%, includes availability and quality of public and private education, while "infrastructure" considers housing, energy, telecommunications, roads, and public transport for the remaining 20%.
Expert analysts and in-city contributors rated the indicators to come up with a livability score, ranking 173 cities. These are the best places to live in the world, according to The Economist, along with their ratings.
Vienna, Austria
Austria's capital and largest city, Vienna offers music, theater, wine, lively nightlife, and a famous coffeehouse culture. The city scored a total index of 99.1 out of 100, and received a perfect score in stability, health care, education and infrastructure.
