World’s most liveable cities: Metro Manila ranking slips to 136th

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila saw its ranking go down by four notches in this year’s global ranking of liveable cities, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Based on the EIU’s Global Liveability Index for 2023, Manila placed 136th among 173 cities, as it got a score of 60.9 out of 100.

In last year’s edition, Manila placed 132nd with a score of 58.7. The EIU’s index assesses which locations around the world provide the best or worst living conditions.

Cities are assessed using over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

For each factor, a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable.

In the stability category, Manila’s score slid to 55 this year from 60 last year. As for health care, Manila
retained its score of 58.3.

In terms of culture and environment, Manila’s score went up to 63.9 this year from the previous year’s 53.5.

When it comes to education, Manila had a higher score of 66.7 this year from 58.3 last year.

In infrastructure, Manila’s score was unchanged at 64.3. “Even though the overall index for the city improved owing to higher scores in culture and environment, and education, it failed to make the gains that many other cities – particularly some of its Asian neighbors – have made in the past year,” EIU said in an email to The STAR.

“Moreover, instances of clashes between extremist groups and security forces continue to weigh on the stability scores, offsetting some of the gains made in culture and education,” EIU said.

EIU said Asia-Pacific (APAC) cities made some of the biggest gains in this year’s index, with the region accounting for eight of the top 10 biggest movers amid the easing of pandemic-induced restrictions.

APAC cities that are among the biggest gainers in this year’s index are Wellington in New Zealand, which jumped 35 places to rank 23rd; Auckland in New Zealand up by 25 places to 10th, Perth in Australia up by 21 spots to 12th, Hanoi in Vietnam up by 20 spots to 129th, Adelaide in Australia up by 19 spots to 12th, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia up by 19 spots to 94th, Jakarta in Indonesia up by 14 spots to 139th and Hong Kong up by 13 spots to 61st.

Globally, Vienna in Austria retained its position as the most liveable city in this year’s index.

Copenhagen in Denmark placed second, followed by Melbourne in Australia in the third spot.

Sydney in Australia, Vancouver in Canada and Zurich in Switzerland placed fourth to sixth, respectively.

Other cities in the top 10 are Calgary in Canada, Geneva in Switzerland, Toronto in Canada, Osaka in Japan and Auckland in New Zealand.

At the bottom of the list, meanwhile, are Damascus in Syria and Tripoli in Libya due to social unrest, terrorism and conflict.