Tel Aviv recorded the largest drop in the Economist's ranking of the world’s most livable cities, in the wake of the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The city fell from 92nd place to 112th place out of the 173 cities ranked in the magazine's annual survey.
The Economist's annual survey ranks cities based on several categories, which together determine the best livable cities. These categories include stability, health care, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
In this year's survey, stability was the category that registered the largest decline among all categories in the index. In Europe, the main reason for this was the increased frequency of protests, which caused several Western European cities to be among the biggest decliners on the index.
In Israel, the war in Gaza led to Tel Aviv's significant drop in the ranking. The survey's authors note that Israel is under pressure to declare a cease-fire in Gaza, but the war is expected to continue at some level throughout 2024.
Vienna once again took the top spot in the 2024 rankings, earning the title of the best livable city for the third consecutive year. Three other European cities made it to the top four places: Copenhagen, Zurich and Geneva, all of which stand out for their relatively low population size, which, according to the survey, tends to lead to lower crime rates, less congested roads and better public transportation systems.
Completing the top 10 list are two Canadian cities - Calgary and Vancouver, two Australian cities - Melbourne and Sydney, as well as Auckland in New Zealand and Osaka, Japan.
Damascus retained its position at the bottom of the list again this year, ranked as the worst livable city since 2013, mainly due to a low score in the stability category amid the situation in Syria.
Kyiv also performed poorly in the category, pushing it into the 10 worst cities to live in for the second consecutive year. Tel Aviv was also significantly impacted in the stability category, and its scores in infrastructure, culture and environment also dropped considerably due to the ongoing war.
High costs of living worldwide are also evident in the survey results. Although inflation is declining in many countries, its effects, especially on housing costs, are still being felt, weighing down infrastructure scores, particularly in Australia and Canada. Some cities in these countries remained in the top 10 on the list but dropped from the top spots due to the housing crisis.
After the sharp decline and subsequent recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic years, the Economist's ranking authors noted that the average quality of life score increased by only 0.06 in the past year, compared to a rise of 2.84 in the 12 months up to June 2023. The survey highlights the protests in Europe as one of the main factors causing the decline in stability and added that protests on U.S. campuses, which took place mostly after the survey was completed, don’t bode well for next year's index.