A European capital has been crowned the most liveable city in the world but it’s bad news for the UK as three of its major cities have slipped down the ranking since last year.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index assesses the world’s biggest cities across 30 categories, including stability, healthcare, culture and environment and infrastructure.
Cities are then awarded an overall liveability score out of 100 and ranked accordingly. So, where is this year’s most liveable city?
Copenhagen soars to the top of this year’s index with a high score of 98. Denmark’s capital knocks Vienna off the top spot for the first time in three years.
It picks up scores of 100 for stability, infrastructure and education while it’s rated above 90 in every category.
Vienna slips into second place, in part due to a ‘sharp’ fall in the stability category. This category ranked based on the prevalence of petty and violent crime, the threat of terror, the threat of military conflict and the threat of civil unrest.
The Austrian capital saw its stability score fall to 95, following a bomb threat to a Taylor Swift concert in August 2024 and a planned attack on a city train station in 2025.
Despite falling from first place, Vienna still scores 97.1 overall leaving it tied with Zurich.
Copenhagen soars to the top of this year’s index with a high score of 98. Denmark’s capital knocks Vienna off the top spot for the first time in three years
Vienna slips into second place, in part due to a ‘sharp’ fall in the stability category
Despite falling from first place, Vienna still scores 97.1 overall leaving it tied with Zurich (pictured above)
The UK fails to rank in the top 10 and three of its major cities are now rated as less liveable than they were in 2024.
London falls nine places to 54th position, while Manchester also falls by nine to 52nd place and Edinburgh slips down by five places to 64th.
According to the report’s authors, each of the British cities saw their stability score fall in 2025. This is in part due to the widespread rioting that took place across the UK in August 2024.
Each of the cities still picks up an overall score above 80, meaning residents face ‘few, if any challenges to living standards’.
Melbourne and Geneva round off the top five most liveable cities while Sydney lands just outside in sixth place.
Melbourne scores 100 for education and healthcare while Geneva also picks up 100 in each of those categories.
Osaka, Auckland, Adelaide and Vancouver all make the world’s top 10 most liveable cities.
The USA fails to have any cities rank in the top 10 but Miami, Portland, Indianapolis and Charlotte all improve on last year’s scores.
At the other end of the scale, Damascus (pictured above) is ranked as the world’s least liveable city
According to the report’s authors, three British cities saw their stability score fall in 2025. This is in part due to the widespread rioting that took place across the UK in August 2024
At the other end of the scale, Damascus is ranked as the world’s least liveable city. The Syrian capital scores just 30.7 in the index, meaning ‘most aspects of living are severely restricted’ for residents.
Tripoli, Dhaka, Karachi and Algiers all end up in the bottom five positions for liveability.
Lagos, Harare, Port Moresby, Kyiv and Caracas also land in the bottom 10 with liveability scores below 50.
Barali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU, says: ‘Global liveability has remained flat over the past year, and as in 2024, scores for stability have declined at a global level.
‘Pressure on stability has led Vienna to lose its position as the most liveable city after a three-year stint.
‘As in 2024, stability scores have declined for western Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. In this edition, they have also declined for Asia, amid intensified threats of military conflict for cities in India and Taiwan.’
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