Adelaide world’s 5th most liveable city

Dubai has been ranked among the most improved cities to live in the world, according to a new report.

Athens, ranking at number 72 overall, has become the only city in Western Europe to fall outside the top tier of liveability, as the impact of austerity and economic weakness has seen it experience the fifth biggest fall on the index over the past five years.

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell says Adelaide’s quality health and education facilities make it highly competitive.

Melbourne has been ranked the world’s most liveable city for the fifth time running, with Sydney coming in seventh in The Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s annual survey.

The rankings are the result of scores for “lifestyle challenges” in 140 cities worldwide, and issues such as housing affordability are not considered.

Tied with Adelaide, Australia for the fifth spot on the list, Calgary follows Vancouver and Toronto, which are ranked third and fourth respectively.

And that’s because of a surge in global instability over the past 12 months, from terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia, to ongoing conflicts across the Middle East, Ukraine and Libya.

Cities are given a rating of either acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable.

Gradually increasing stability has seen marginal improvements in the score of Lagos in Nigeria, but the continued threat from groups like Boko Haram acts as a constraint. The livability scores for both Damascus and Kiev have continued to decline steeply.

136. Tripoli, Libya 137.

A decreasing homicide rate was a contributing factor to the Victorian capital’s success. For qualitative indicators, a rating is awarded based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors.

“Conflict will not just cause disruption in its own right, it will also damage infrastructure, overburden hospitals and undermine the availability of goods, services and recreational activities”, the report stated.