Karachi has been named among the 10 least livable cities in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, in The Global Liveability Index 2019 published on Wednesday.
Each year, the EIU scores 140 cities out of 100 on a variety of factors, such as living standards, crime, transportation infrastructure, access to education and medical care, as well as political and economic stability.
This year, Karachi ranked 136th on the list, the fifth least livable city in the world, only achieving better performance than Damascus in Syria, Lagos in Nigeria, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Tripoli in Libya. Other countries included in the list of the 10 least livable cities include Caracas in Venezuela, Algiers in Algeria, Douala in Cameroon, Harare in Zimbabwe and Port Moresby in PNG.
Ranked in position 136, Karachi's overall rating of 100, which EIU declared was ideal, was 40.9, its stability index was 20, medical care 45.8, culture and environment 38.7, education 66.7 and infrastructure 51.8.
Karachi's ranking has improved in one place compared to 2018, when it was ranked 137.
Read: "Karachi has become the worst city in Pakistan"
For the first time, the index highlighted the effects of climate change on habitability, with the Indian capital, New Delhi, and the Egyptian capital, Cairo, falling 118th and 125th, respectively, due to "poor air quality, undesirable average temperatures and inadequate water supply. " .
"We expect that climate change issues will put increasing pressure on habitability scores in the coming years and that the number of cities affected will grow," said Agathe Demarais of the EIU.
Meanwhile, the Austrian capital, Vienna, maintained its classification as the most livable city in the world. Vienna once again went ahead of Australia's Melbourne, which had taken first place for seven years until it lost it to Vienna in 2018.
The first two were followed by Sydney, Osaka and Calgary.
Vienna, known for its convenient public transport, its refreshing alpine running water and its varied cultural life, earned 99.1 points out of 100, as it did last year.
"Western Europe and North America remain the most livable regions in the world," the EIU said in a press release.
Europe claimed eight of the top 20 places, with cities in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada that make up the rest.
However, the French city of Paris fell six places to 25 due to anti-government protests of the "yellow vest", images of which went around the world.
The improvements in habitability that had taken place in the cities of emerging markets in recent years, thanks to greater stability, as well as better education and medical care, "are seriously threatened by an increasingly adverse climate," He said.
London and New York are ranked 48 and 58 respectively, as they continue to fight under the perception of the risk of crime and terrorism and overloaded infrastructure.
Karachi is the fourth lowest in the ranking of safe cities
In the EIU Safe Cities Index 2019, Karachi ranked 57 of 60 with a score of 43.5.
The capital of Myanmar, Yangon, Caracas and Lagos, were the three cities with the lowest rating in the ranking, while the capital of Japan, Tokyo, was the city with the highest ranking.
The ranking, published on August 29, analyzes digital, infrastructure, health and personal safety. Karachi ranked 52 in digital security, 59 in health security, 55 in infrastructure security and 58 in personal security.
Read: Less secure Karachi in 60 cities around the world: report
However, this year's classification marks an improvement over 2017, when the metropolis obtained the lowest rating in the list of 60 cities.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1503471/karachi-still-among-worlds-10-least-liveable-cities
