Adelaide, My home town made it to the top 10 most livable cities in the world

I usually totally ignore these kinds of survey results. In fact, I did, as the news came out a day or two ago. Today – I had a moment to actually read the article. And when I did, suddenly my interest was peeked, because . . .

Adelaide – my home town came in at No. 10!

Sydney – my adopted city came in at No. 3

Melbourne – which is my favourite Australian city to visit – No. 2

USA – not one city in the list

The list is compiled annually by The Economist – or at least by their associated company – The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – and you can download the full report by giving away some of your contact information.

They use roughly 30 categories and apply them to about 140 cities to get their list. Categories include things like crime rates, infrastructure and cultural values.

Some characterise the rule book they use as a bit arbitrary. The tool was initially designed to assist companies in working out what should be the extent of the ‘hardship’ allowance a corporation should pay to personnel posted to particular cities. So it concentrates on aspects of cities that are of concern to expats, rather than residents or tourists.

It should be noted that 26 of the categories they use are very subjective using the ‘. . . judgement of in-house expert country analysts . . .’

This is also a money-making venture fo the EIU, with the detailed report costing US$620 and the full data set a whacking US$9,210.

OK – in case you need to be put out of your misery – here is the list – both the bottom and the top:

The world’s most liveable cities 2019

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Sydney, Australia
4. Osaka, Japan
5. Calgary, Canada
6. Vancouver, Canada
7. Toronto, Canada
7. Tokyo, Japan
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Adelaide, Australia

The world’s least liveable cities 2019

1. Damascus, Syria
2. Lagos, Nigeria
3. Dhaka, Bangladesh
4. Tripoli, Libya
5. Karachi, Pakistan
6. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
7. Harare, Zimbabwe
8. Douala, Cameroon
9. Algiers, Algeria
10. Caracas, Venezuela

The Port Moresby listing is a little confronting given Australia’s history with the nation and its proximity, but not surprising, unfortunately.

. . . and if you would like to read a more detailed analysis, try The Conversation’s article by Misha Ketchel.

2PAXfly Takeout

Not a big fan of these sort of listicles, but when it features and praises both my adopted and actual home city, who am I to disagree?

I also think it interesting, that although some cities in the USA score over 80 per cent, none make it into the top 10.

I heard an economist the other day say, that if you want to live the American Dream – then your best off living in Western Europe, as there you have a greater possibility of bettering yourself financially over time – which is kind of an endorsement of socialist/centre-right governments.