Melbourne and Vienna have beaten out Vancouver in a new report ranking the world’s most livable cities in 2012.
Melbourne took top honours with Vienna in second place, in the annual Economist Intelligence Unit report.
Vancouver followed in third place, maintaining its 2011 ranking, but failing to regain the top spot it had previously held for nearly a decade.
Congestion and crime were two factors that held Vancouver back from receiving top marks, according to report authors.
Vancouver received a 97.3 overall score on the report’s index, which ranks a score of 100 as ideal. While the city received perfect 100 scores for healthcare, culture and environment and education, it scored 92.9 for infrastructure and 95 for stability.
The report found that the score and ranking of the top 65 cities measured was identical to six months ago.
“This may primarily reflect renewed stability as some economies begin to recover from the global economic crisis of a few years ago,” the report assessed, “although the continuing crisis in the Eurozone and tighter fiscal budgets may have also slowed planned improvements, meaning that scores have remained static rather than moving up or down.”
