Toronto is adjudged as world’s fourth most liveable city

The Economist Intelligence Unit announced last month (February 2011) it’s list of the World’s Most Liveable Cities. Toronto is world’s fourth most liveable city. Only Vancouver, Melbourne and Vienna are rated higher. In 2011 rankings, just 2.3 percentage points separated the number 1 ranked Vancouver, and the number 10 ranked Auckland, New Zealand.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s livability shows cities in Canada, Australia, Austria, Finland and New Zealand as the ideal destinations thanks to a widespread availability of goods and services, low personal risk and an effective infrastructure. The Economist Intelligence Unit has been criticized by the New York Times for being overly anglocentric, stating that “The Economist clearly equates livability with speaking English.

Three Canadian cities such as Vancouver (first), Toronto (4th) and Calgary (5th) claimed positions in the top ten. It is interesting to know that three Australian cities (Sydney at 7th and Perth and Adelaide tied at 8th) also claimed positions in the top ten.

The Economist’s World’s Most Livable Cities 2011 (Top 10)

City                     Country              Rating

1    Vancouver        Canada              98.0

2    Melbourne        Australia          97.5

3    Vienna                Austria              97.4

4    Toronto              Canada              97.2

5    Calgary               Canada              96.6

6    Helsinki              Finland             96.2

7    Sydney              Australia           96.1

8    Perth                  Australia           95.9

9    Adelaide           Australia           95.9

10 Auckland       New Zealand       95.7

The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks 140 cities from around the world based on 30 indicators, from five broad categories:

Stability

Healthcare

Culture and environment

Education

Infrastructure

Each city receives an overall rating of 100; 100 is considered to be ideal and 1 is intolerable. The health care facilities and education standards offered by Australia and Canada are a major factor in these countries’ cities continued dominance of the World’s Most Liveable Cities.

The World’s Most Liveable Cities Bottom 10 Ranked Cities

131.    Colombo, Sri Lanka

132.    Dakar, Senegal

133.    Tehran, Iran

134.    Douala, Cameroon

135.    Karachi, Pakistan

136.    Algiers, Algeria

137.    Lagos, Nigeria

138.    Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

139.    Dhaka, Bangladesh

140.    Harare, Zimbabwe

Founded in 1946, the Economist Intelligence Unit in the in-house research unit for the Economist magazine, employs over 120 full time staff.