The Syrian capital of Damascus is rated the worst place to live in after suffering from years of civil war, according to a new global survey.
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The city scored a measly 30.7 points out of an ideal score of 100 to come bottom from 140 cities in the 2019 Economist Liveability Survey.
Not far behind were Lagos, Nigeria, with a ranking of 139 and a score of 38.5 and Dhaka, Bangladesh, ranked 138 and with a score of 39.2.
At the other end of the listing, Vienna, Austria, kept the number one spot that the s=city snatched from Melbourne, Australia, last year with a score of 99.1.
Melbourne (98.4 points) hung on to second place ahead of another Australian city, Sydney (98.1 points).
Improving places…and those in decline
Cities in Japan and Canada shared the next five places, with Copenhagen, Denmark, and Adelaide, Australia, taking the remaining sports in the top 10.
The most improved cities over the past five years were Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Kiev, Ukraine; Hanoi, Vietnam; Belgrade, Serbia and Moscow, Russia.
On the decline are Detroit, USA; Asuncion, Paraguay; Tunis, Tunisia; Caracas, Venezuela and Tripoli, Libya.
“Paris in France is the highest ranked city to have seen a deterioration in its stability score, owing to the ongoing anti-government gilets jaunes protests that began in late 2018,” said the report.
“In the emerging world, the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka triggered a downgrade for Colombo, while the growing instability between the US and Iran was behind a reduction in the stability score for Tehran.”
The scores rated political stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
Top 10 cities for liveability 2019
- Vienna, Austria (99.1 points)
- Melbourne, Australia (98.4)
- Sydney, Australia (98.1)
- Osaka, Japan (97.7)
- Calgary, Canada (97.5)
- Vancouver, Canada (97.3)
- Toronto, Canada (97.2)
- Tokyo, Japan (97.2)
- Denmark, Copenhagen (96.8)
- Adelaide, Australia (96.6)
Bottom 10 cities for liveability 2019
- Caracas, Venezuela (46.9 points)
- Algiers, Algeria (44.1)
- Doula, Cameroon (44)
- Harare, Zimbabwe (42.6)
- Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (41)
- Karachi, Pakistan (40.9)
- Tripoli, Libya (40.4)
- Dhaka, Bangladesh (39.2)
- Lagos, Nigeria (38.5)
- Damascus, Syria (30.7)
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