The Best City to Live in is 'Vienna'... Seoul and Busan Are Not in the Rankings

Seoul and Busan Rank 4th and 6th in Asia

Vienna, Austria ranked first as the most livable city in the world. The most difficult city to live in was Damascus, Syria. Seoul and Busan in South Korea ranked 4th and 6th among Asian cities, respectively.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an economic analysis agency affiliated with the British magazine The Economist, partially released the Global Livability Index report on the 21st (local time). The EIU evaluates five areas: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure to calculate the livability index. This year, the measurement was conducted over one month starting from February 13. This index was developed as a reference for global companies when determining employee allowances by work location.

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According to the report, Vienna scored 98.4 out of 100 in this year's evaluation, ranking first among 173 cities. Vienna has ranked first four times in the past five years since the index was published.

Following Vienna were Copenhagen, Denmark with 98.0, Melbourne, Australia with 97.7, Sydney, Australia with 97.4, Vancouver, Canada with 97.3, and Zurich, Switzerland with 97.1. In Asia, Osaka, Japan was the only city ranked within the top 10, scoring 97.0.

All cities in the top 50 are from developed countries. Among major cities, London ranked 46th and New York 69th, dropping 12 and 10 places respectively compared to last year.

In the Asian region, after Osaka, Tokyo, and Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong, Busan, and Taipei were evaluated as the most livable cities in that order.

The livability scores for Seoul and Busan were in the high 80s, with exact rankings not disclosed. However, considering their positions on the graph slightly ahead of New York, they are estimated to be around 60th place.

Damascus, Syria has held the position of the most difficult city to live in for over 10 years. Tripoli, Libya follows closely. Kyiv, Ukraine, which is at war, ranked 165th.

The EIU stated, "There were changes in rankings this year as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Last year, the war in Ukraine lowered the stability scores of Eastern European countries, but this year, strikes in Greece and protests against pension reforms in France affected those countries."