Vancouver named #3 most livable city as ranked by The Economist

Another day, another ranking placing Vancouver as one of the top cities to live in. This time it is The Economist listing Vancouver as the number three most livable city in the world.

The 2015 Global Livability Rankings from US-based The Economist surveys political stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure to determine where the best and worst living conditions are located.

Vancouver dominated the rankings every year until 2011, but now sits at third place behind Melbourne, Australia and Vienna, Austria. Other Canadian cities, Toronto and Calgary, also made the top five with the latter tied with Adelaide, Australia in fifth place.

The least livable cities, ranking the lowest in The Economist‘s criteria lie in developing countries with political unrest and terrorism due to a large ISIS presence.

Top 5 Most Livable Cities in 2015

1. Melbourne, Australia

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Vancouver, Canada

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Adelaide, Australia

5. Calgary, Canada

Bottom 5 Most Livable Cities in 2015

136. Tripoli, Libya

137. Lagos, Nigeria

138. Port Moresby, PNG

139. Dhaka, Bangladesh

140. Damascus, Syria

The results are very similar to the 2014 rankings which named the same top five cities.

The report also lists the most improved and the biggest falls over the last five years, showing which cities have improving living conditions and which are deteriorating.

Harare, Zimbabwe is the biggest climber, moving up five points in the last five years, followed by Kathmandu, Nepal, Dubai, Warsaw, Kuwait City and Honolulu.

Conditions are worsening the most in Damascus, Syria, a city torn about by ISIS and now the worst city in the world for livability. The other falling cities also have had war and unrest ravage their population in the last five years, with Kiev, Ukraine;  Tripoli; Tunis, Tunisia; and Athens, Greece falling considerably.

Detroit is the only North American city on this list and has dropped 5.7 points largely due to the 2008 recession and its continuing effects on the once-prosperous automobile city.