An annual ranking of the best cities to live in has three Canadian cities in its top ten.
The World’s Most Liveable Cities 2019 from the Economist Intelligence Unit puts Vienna at the top followed by Melbourne, Sydney, and Osaka.
The next three spots are taken by Canadian cities: Calgary in 5th place, Vancouver in 6th, and Toronto in 7th. They are the only North American cities in the top ten and beat Copenhagen and Adelaide. Tokyo is tied with Toronto.
The US only managed 22nd place for its highest-ranked city, Honolulu.
The rankings are generally dominated by “medium-sized cities in wealthy countries,” reflecting their high-quality education, well-funded public healthcare and functional transport systems.
The cities also score well for not being overcrowded while still having good levels of development.
“The upsides of these cities tend to be fully realized. You get a good collection of cultural activities, you get good access to healthcare and education,” EIU’s regional director for Asia, Duncan Innes-Ker told Bloomberg. “But you don’t get a lot of downsides that tend to come with big cities, things like traffic congestion, crime problems and general wear and tear.”
