As per a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, which was based on thirty qualitative and quantitative factors across five basic parameters that include stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, Karachi, the financial hub of Pakistan, has been ranked as one of the least liveable cities in the world.
The scores of the cities were compiled and weighted to provide a scale from one to hundred, with rank one as the most intolerable city in the world
The Global Liveability Index for the year 2022 has placed Karachi at the 168th position out of 172 countries in terms of liveability. Other cities that have received the lowest ranks include Damascus in Syria and Tripoli in Libya) which was once known for its rich oilfields and had the best living standards in Africa) and Lagos in Nigeria. The list of unliveable cities also included Algiers, the capital city of Algeria.
Karachi has received an overall score of 37.5, with particularly poor performance in the stability indicator scoring only 20. The city received scores of 33 for healthcare, 35 for culture, 66 for education and 512 for infrastructure. The capital of Bangladesh was ranked 166th
This is not the first time that Karachi has fared poorly in the liveable cities index. In 2021, it ranked 134th out of 140 cities; in 2019, it ranked 136th out of 140. The report comes at a time when Pakistan is undergoing a political and economic crisis. People are battling inflation, while the country is facing the risk of defaulting on its massive external debt obligations. Foreign exchange reserves are at a low.
At the same time, the power tussle between the Shahbaz Sharif government and former Prime Minister and PTI chief Imran Khan has plunged Pakistan into political turmoil.
The top-performing cities on the index are predominantly from Western Europe and Canada. The capital of Austria, Vienna, secured the top spot with a perfect score of 100 on indicators including stability, healthcare, education and infrastructure.
“Vienna, with the excellent mix of stability, culture and entertainment and reliable infrastructure tops the ranking for the fourth time in five years,” the report stated. The capital of Denmark, Copenhagen was ranked was ranked second, and Melbourne in Australia claimed the third spot.
The report also highlighted that the majority of the cities in the top 50 categories are in wealthy countries, with nine out of the top ten being small to mid-sized cities. On the other hand, the large cities with higher crime rates, congestion and density tend to fare in the worst rankings.
The capital of the United Kingdom, London, dropped 12 places from last year and was positioned at 46th while New York was ranked 69th. The city of Kyiv in Ukraine was excluded from the list due to the Russian invasion, which also influenced the rankings of Russian cities such as St Petersburg and Moscow. The two Russian cities saw a decrease in score due to increased instability, censorship and imposition of Western Sanctions.
At the same time, the cities from Europe and the United States of America have experienced significant drops in the rankings, with two American cities, San Diego and Los Angeles, among the top ten fallers. The city of Edinburgh, which made a respectable debut in the liveability survey last year at the 35th position, has now plummeted to 58th position.
Other cities in the United Kingdom have also fared poorly, with Manchester falling by 16 places and London dropping by 12. While these cities have seen a sharp decline in their index scores, they have failed to make the progress that many other cities in Asia have achieved over the past year.
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