Vancouver named one of the world's most liveable cities

Vancouver is the third best city in the world to live in: survey

Kayakers paddling towards the downtown Vancouver peninsula at sunrise. (Shutterstock)

Given that it is hugged by mountains, ample greenery, and the ocean, another survey has ranked Vancouver as one of the top cities in the world to live.

The 2017 edition of Ipsos Reid’s Top Cities Index has ranked Canada’s third largest city as the third best place to live, tied with Abu Dhabi and just behind Zurich and Sydney.

Only one other Canadian city made the ranking; Toronto ranked sixth place.

doratoy / Shutterstock

This is the first time Vancouver has entered into the index’s ranking, which evaluates 60 global cities and is based on interviews with nearly 19,000 people across 26 countries, with results weighted to match the population of each country.

Neither Vancouver nor Toronto made the survey’s ultimate ‘Top Cities’ list, which is a comprehensive account of a city’s favourability as a place to not only live but also visit and do business. This broad list is topped by New York City, Abu Dhabi, London, and Paris.

However, the survey found that there were generational favourites for top cities.

Amongst the older generations, Vancouver was regarded highly, ranking seventh for baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1965) and Generation X (born between 1966 and 1979). The city was seen less favourably with younger generations – it did not rank in the top 10 for Millennials (born between 1980 and 1995) and Generation Z (born in or after 1996).

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Of course, Vancouver has consistently ranked highly in a number of annual surveys of the world’s most livable cities. For instance, the Economist Intelligence Unit placed Vancouver at 3rd best last year while Mercer placed Vancouver at 5th.

The last time Ipsos Reid conducted its Top Cities survey was in 2013 when it ranked 48 cities.

2017 World’s Most Livable Cities

1. Zurich
2. Sydney
3=. Abu Dhabi
3=. Vancouver
6=. Stockholm
6=. London
6=. Amsterdam
6=. Toronto
6=. Oslo
10=. New York City
10=. Paris

2017 World’s Top Cities for Baby Boomers

1. Zurich
2. Sydney
3. New York City
4. London
5. Abu Dhabi
6. Paris
7. Vancouver
8. Rome
9. Tokyo
10. Stockhom/Toronto/Vienna

2017 World’s Top Cities for Generation X

1. New York City
2. Abu Dhabi
3. Sydney
4. London
5. Zurich
6. Paris
7. Tokyo
8. Rome
9. Vancouver
10. Amsterdam

2017 World’s Top Cities Overall

1. New York City
2. Abu Dhabi
3. London
4. Paris
5. Sydney
6. Zurich
7. Tokyo
8. Rome
9. Los Angeles
10. Amsterdam

2017 World’s Most Livable Cities

2017 World’s Top Cities for Baby Boomers

2017 World’s Top Cities for Generation X

2017 World’s Top Cities Overall

See also