Taipei fell from 33rd to 53rd in the “world’s most liveable cities” ranking this year, according to an annual report published by British weekly newspaper The Economist on Wednesday.
With the tagline “Life is getting back to normal, if not quite everywhere,” the report included 33 additional cities in its annual most liveable cities ranking for 2022 which included a total of 172 locations.
The Economist also included Taichung in the rankings, with a score of 80 to 90, similar to that of Taipei, but without indicating the city’s ranking.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the newspaper’s sister company, the Austrian city of Vienna replaced Auckland in New Zealand as the most liveable city, reclaiming the title it previously held in 2018 and 2019.
The Economist wrote of the city: “In Vienna they call it Lebenskunst — the art of living well — and now that restaurants and museums in the Austrian capital have reopened, it is once again the perfect place to practice the art.”
The EIU and its survey noted the availability of entertainments post COVID, well-rounded and stable infrastructure as well as commendable healthcare as reasons Vienna is an appealing city to live in.
The EIU also attributed Auckland’s drop to 34th this year to New Zealand’s COVID-19 response measures and the effects of the pandemic.
Europe took six of the top 10 spots in the Economist rankings, with the Danish capital Copenhagen taking second spot after Vienna, followed by Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland in third and sixth place, respectively
Frankfurt in Germany took seventh place in the rankings, while Amsterdam in the Netherlands was ninth.
In North America, Calgary in Canada came joint third with Zurich, while Vancouver took fifth and Toronto eighth spot.
Osaka in Japan and Melbourne in Australia were joint 10th.
With its ongoing civil conflict, the Syrian capital of Damascus remained in last place in the rankings.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was not included in the rankings this year due to The Economist being forced to abort its survey of the city as a result of the ongoing war, while Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia fell 15 and 13 places, respectively.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel