World's Most Liveable Cities: 2011 Economist Intelligence Unit Report (PHOTOS)

Based on a combination of environment, health care, culture and infrastructure, Vancouver topped the list of the world's most liveable cities for the fifth straight year, according to a new report.

As Reuters is reporting, the 2010 Winter Olympics host scored a whopping 98 percent in the 2011 Liveability Ranking and Overview by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which has ranked the Canadian west coast city at the top since 2007. Canada dominated the top 10 spots along with Australia, with Melbourne surpassing Vienna, Austria as the world's second most liveable city.

"Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion," said Jon Copestake, editor of the report, in a statement.

In 29th place, the top U.S. city was Pittsburgh, with Los Angeles moving up to 44th place and New York coming in at 56th. London moved up one place to 53rd while Paris came in at number 16. The top Asian city was Osaka at number 12, tying Geneva, Switzerland and beating out the Japanese capital of Tokyo, which came in at 18.

View photos of the world's most liveable cities here:

1 of 10

#10 - Auckland, New Zealand

1 of 11

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

Woolwich Attack

The Most And Least Used Drugs In the World

Guatemala's 'Cayala City'

Swedish Youth Riots

The London Attacker's Radical Influences

Bright Lights, Big City

comments(1937)

Total comments: 1937 | Post a Comment

1 of 11

Most Surprising Rank

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

No surprise Surprising

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Liveable City

loading...

Liveable City

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[Artemis34]

02:31 AM on 03/30/2011

Yahoo!  Vancouver is number 1, again!   Well deserved. 

Let's be honest, no one in the world really thinks the US is really "livable" anymore.

[NordicNonBlond]

03:26 AM on 02/25/2011

Helsinki is a right place if you like to live in a city where everything works. Winters are long, but you can always do like Finns do, book a winter holiday in Canary Islands or Thailand... they have long vacations there.

Taxes are higher than in US but you get low cost health care, free colleges and all the other goodies.

Recently Newsweek ranked Finland number one:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

[JCCross]

12:34 AM on 02/25/2011

Pittsburgh? PITTSBURGH? This is a joke, right? Someone tell me this is a joke?!

[Alise 28]

11:19 PM on 02/24/2011

Melbourne is Beautiful but Sydney.........nope.

[carmenalex]

12:20 PM on 02/24/2011

No U.S. city...what does that tell you.

[Artemis34]

02:27 AM on 03/30/2011

Health care, crime and poverty / income inequality were factored in. 

[morbius]

10:47 AM on 03/30/2011

The myth of the US being Camelot is broken. Time for the US to be split into two countries: the baggers, republicans, evangelicals, CEO's ect in one country, the rest of us in another. Don't let the screen door hit you in the butt, baggers.

[redsongia]

11:50 AM on 02/24/2011

Helsinki is fantastic...if you don't mind total darkness in winter.  Also, you probably need to speak Finnish to get a good job there.

[farmerlady]

10:41 AM on 02/24/2011

I wonder how Australia's ratings will fare once their water runs out ;(

Whoever says Vienna is a very liveable city has never tried to live there. It is too expensive. I believe this should count for something. Every city is liveable if you are rich.

Calgary is extremely cold eight months of the year. I lived there for three years and because of the climate I would put it on the bottom of my list.

Vancouver however is quite wonderful. A mild climate and a middle class person can live there comfortably.

[redsongia]

11:52 AM on 02/24/2011

I think Vienna is much more affordable than other European countries, like Germany or France.  They also have fairly high incomes, even for traditionally lower paying jobs.  Whether or not you can actually get one, is another story.  Of course, citizenship, the type of skills or education you have limits your ability to just pick up and move to someplace like Helsinki or Vienna and really live there as a local.

[SDH283]

02:32 PM on 02/27/2011

You wonder how Australia's ratings will fare once their water runs out .. ??

Why focus on Australia for that ?? NO CITY would fare well without water. Australians are resourceful, amazing people, who get the job done without much fanfare.

While the USA doesn't miss a chance to proclaim itself THE BEST BLAH BLAH BLAH ... WE ARE THE BEST COUNTRY BLAH BLAH ... countries like Australia and Canada work at getting the job done.

Do you know what the USA really excels at ??? HOLLYWOOD MOVIES and SELLING ARMS AND WEAPONS .

That's it.

[taterpeel]

12:25 PM on 03/24/2011

whoa. breathe.

how do rainfall amounts translate into the collective character of a country's citizenry (if there is such a thing)?

According to Neal Stephenson the US is also good at high-speed pizza delivery but I'm beginning to doubt that myself.

[13th Generation American]

09:45 AM on 02/24/2011

Notice how none of these cities have teabaggers

[Lozange]

06:57 AM on 02/24/2011

I'd try Australia. They're a candid, no non-sense, happy to be there kind of people with a zany sense of humour. I'm not surprised they master good living, even in cityscapes.

[Lozange]

06:41 AM on 02/24/2011

I wouldn't recommend Toronto at all. City politics are riddled with corruption and you have a police force that is untouchable; abuse complaints about police are dealt with...by police!? It is despotic and skewed. City councillors can run down a man on the opposite side of the road's sidewalk and the city decides instead to refurbish the whole city block's sidewalk to distract from the crime. Its leaders think this is Chicago in the Capone era and not only are they ridiculous, they're transparent. The redeeming feature of the city? It's green, lots of trees and the lake (into which toxic waste is dumped after midnight when no one is inspecting or enforcing by-laws...)

[cuchulain]

03:02 AM on 02/24/2011

It's much smarter, cheaper, more efficient, and more intelligent to have a single payer system. Countries that have them spend less on health care than we do and have better results. They live longer, healthier lives.

The insurance model is actually perfect for government. It functions in a natural way for government. Take in taxes from everyone, and redistribute the funds where needed. Private insurance companies do the same exact thing, but they up the costs because they include massive salaries for executives, lobbyists, lawyers, marketing firms, ads, shareholders and profit on top of all of that.

And in America, we'd have one of the largest "group" in the developed world, which, if capitalism 101 is to believed, would dramatically lower costs due to economies of scale.

Insure everyone, cover the healthy as well as the sick, and our share costs are tiny overall. No profit needed means even lower costs. No huge executive salaries means even lower costs. The director of Medicare, for example, makes in the neighborhood of 250K, compared with the tens of millions commanded by private insurance executives.

Instantly, costs are lower. And in our current system, we end up paying anyway, as the government picks up the tab for emergency room care, which is terribly inefficient and causes a great deal of unnecessary suffering.

If we all share costs, across the board, we pay far less, our standard of living goes up, and our costs go down.

[cuchulain]

02:50 AM on 02/24/2011

It's always amusing to read some people say, "I don't want to pay for other people's health care!"

Guess what? If you pay for private health insurance, you're paying for other people's health care. Do you think your private health insurer puts your money away in its own lock box and doesn't touch it, ever, leaving it solely for your own health care needs? The private health insurance model depends upon a common pool of money, fed by thousands of consumers, all of whom are paying for each other's health care. It's a collective. And that collective redistributes money to the people who need it at any given time. Meanwhile, that company can't make a profit, pay millions in salaries to CEOs, pay lobbyists, shareholders, lawyers and ad agencies unless they pay out less than they take in. Obviously.

If you're one of the lucky ones, and you don't get sick, then most of your premiums, after the corporation takes its cut, goes to people who are sick. If you're unlucky and get a serious illness, then other people pay your fees for you. For instance, one four week session of chemo could run you nearly 30K as an outpatient. If you're single, and your company picks up part of your premium, you probably average a thousand or so a year toward your insurance. One chemo run could wipe out thirty years of premiums. Most likely, other people are paying your way. Single Payer is cheaper and more efficient.

[GSR]

05:41 AM on 02/24/2011

And the sun rises in the East. Cuchulain you have just spent 500 words stating the bleeding obvious. I'm sad that you had to. Fanned

[JKDM]

12:06 AM on 02/24/2011

The picture of the City of Toronto is SOOOOOOO out of date!

BOOO!

[Edward Standley]

09:00 PM on 02/23/2011

Congrats, Vancouver. Several friends and family members have visited your city. Every single one of them have said that they can't wait to go back. Hope I can visit someday.

[Erewhon7]

12:31 AM on 02/24/2011

Vancouver has a nice little oceanfront and a a few picturesque vistas on the Vancouver Island.
The rest of it is Moose Jaw-like lugubrious wasteland ,no different from rest of the 10 million square kilometers of wasteland aka Canada. From Canadian cities I like Montreal the best.
It feels like a real cosmopolitan city.

[SDH283]

02:34 PM on 02/27/2011

.......... wasteland huh? Arrogant and ill informed much??

[temenos]

07:36 PM on 03/25/2011

Poor Nowhere7, do you really think Vancouver is on the island? It's obvious you've never even been there.