What are the best cities to live in the world? Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) evaluates cities across the globe for their liveability, releasing the much-anticipated Global Liveability Index 2024.
The EIU’s report examines 173 cities using 30 indicators divided into several categories, including stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure, then ranks them on a 100-point scale. The aim? To show how comfortable these cities are to live in.
The World’s Best City to Live
For the third consecutive year, Vienna, Austria—a place celebrated for its unmatched blend of cultural richness and essential public services—claims the title of the world’s best city to live.
“This year, Vienna once again got perfect scores (of 100) for four of the five categories, although its score for culture and environment was a less-perfect 93.5, owing to a lack of major sporting events,” Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU, told me in an interview.
Overall, Western Europe remains the world’s most liveable region with eight cities in the top 20. Coming in second on the list—also for the third year in a row—is Copenhagen, Denmark. Zurich, Switzerland ousted Melbourne, Australia to take the third place on the list in 2024 (a position it held in 2022). Compare these results to 2023 and 2022.
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Global Trends
So what do the results say about global liveability? This year’s report reveals a positive trend, primarily driven by significant improvements in healthcare and education in developing nations. However, these gains are somewhat offset by declining scores in several top-tier cities. Geopolitical risks also had an impact on the overall index.
“Global liveability has risen fractionally over the past year but risks to stability remain,” says Bhattacharyya. “High inflation, accompanied by interest rates and other economic headwinds, has led to frequent protests worldwide.”
One surprise in this year’s results, according to Bhattacharyya: “Overall, cities across the developing world have significant strides in improving their liveability standards, while those in rich countries have seen a decline in scores.”
The Best Cities to Live in the U.S.
Again this year, the U.S. didn’t crack the list of top 20 best places to live—but it moved up, with Honolulu taking the top spot as the best U.S. city to live for the second year in a row. Honolulu ranked 23 on the overall list—a two point increase from 2023, when it was number 25 overall. Honolulu performed well due to its robust educational facilities. It also scored strongly on stability as compared to other U.S. cities.
One notable trend in the U.S. is that smaller cities tend to outperform the biggest metropolises. Besides Honolulu at the top, Pittsburgh (number 3), Boston (number 7) and Minneapolis (number 10) made the list of the top 10 places to move in the U.S. “The U.S.’s most populous cities, such as New York (70th) and Los Angeles (58th), have impressive scores for their cultural offerings, but weaker ratings for stability and infrastructure,” says Bhattacharyya.
Across North America, the scores dropped—and housing was a big reason, especially in Canada. Toronto dropped from the top 10 in 2023 to the 12th position for 2024. “The main reason for the decline in North America’s scores in this year’s index is a lower infrastructure score for Canada on account of low housing supply,” says Bhattacharyya. “As in some other advanced economies, Canadian house price growth accelerated markedly during the pandemic, when mortgages were quite cheap. The combination of low housing supply and strong population growth, further driven by high levels of immigration, has led to record-low vacancy rates.”
There were several issues at play in the U.S. “Cities in the U.S. face a few well-established structural problems that affect their scores in our index,” says Bhattacharyya. “Foremost among these is a greater incidence of social unrest, which is often rooted in racial inequalities. Moreover, weak gun-control laws mean that crime is often violent and fatal and undermines social cohesion.”
The Biggest Changes
Despite dominating the top 20 with eight cities on the list, Europe faces challenges, recording the largest overall decline due to deteriorating stability scores. A surge in protests across Western Europe—spanning issues from far-right extremism to EU agricultural policies—reflects underlying societal tensions that could threaten future stability.
The biggest leap up the ranks globally was made by Hong Kong, which saw improvements in its score for stability. Hong Kong has also registered improvement in its healthcare facilities over the years. “Although not quite back to its pre-2019 scores, Hong Kong’s political landscape has stabilized, with the risks of disruptions from mass protests now negligible,” says Bhattacharyya. “The national security law and the local regulations introduced earlier in 2024 have restored political stability.”
But there are some drawbacks in Hong Kong, according to Bhattacharyya. “This change in score reflects a huge tradeoff to Hong Kong’s civil society, as evidenced by the city’s plunging score in our separately published Democracy Index.”
Meanwhile, there are stark contrasts in the Middle East and North Africa region. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has significantly impacted Tel Aviv, which has plummeted by 20 places to rank 112th.
On the other hand, Gulf cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have seen major improvements in their liveability scores. “This year, Dubai has joined Abu Dhabi in achieving the highest tier of liveability in our index (i.e. a score of 80 or above). Both cities score highly on stability, infrastructure and education and have seen steady improvements in overall ratings over the past few years,” says Bhattacharyya.
Saudi Arabia also performed well. “In the past few years, Saudi Arabian cities have seen strong investment in domestic infrastructure, education and health in order to become more attractive to foreign tourists and expatriates, and diversify their economies,” says Bhattacharyya. “These efforts have been rewarded with movements up the rankings.”
Read on for the rankings of the best cities to live around the world and in the United States.
Ranked: The 20 Best Cities To Live in the World
1. Vienna, Austria
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Melbourne, Australia
5. Calgary, Canada (tied with Geneva)
5. Geneva, Switzerland (tie)
7. Sydney, Australia (tied with Vancouver)
7. Vancouver, Canada (tie)
9. Osaka, Japan (tied with Auckland)
9. Auckland, New Zealand (tie)
11. Adelaide, Australia
12. Toronto, Canada
13. Helsinki, Finland
14. Tokyo, Japan
15. Perth, Australia
16. Brisbane, Australia
17. Frankfurt, Germany (tied with Luxembourg)
17. Luxembourg, Luxembourg (tie)
19. Amsterdam, Netherlands
20. Wellington, New Zealand
Ranked: The 10 Best Cities To Live In The U.S.
1. Honolulu, Hawaii (overall ranking: 23)
2. Atlanta, Georgia (overall ranking: 29)
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (overall ranking: 30)
4. Seattle, Washington (overall ranking: 34)
5. Washington D.C. (overall ranking: 38)
6. Chicago, Illinois (overall ranking: 39)
7. Boston, Massachusetts (overall ranking: 45)
8. Miami, Florida (overall ranking: 47)
9. San Francisco, California (overall ranking: 49)
10. Minneapolis, Minnesota (overall ranking: 50)
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