Liveability index: Dhaka improves a little

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Dhaka has been ranked as the third worst liveable city in the world, while war-torn Damascus in Syria ranked the worst.

Meanwhile, Vienna, the capital of Austria remains on the top of the most liveable cities among the 140 cities around the world, according to the annual Global Liveability Index researched by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Dhaka has climbed up one notch in the liveability index and now ranks as the third worst instead of the second worst with a ranking of 138 in comparison to last year’s 139, according to the EIU report.

Dhaka scored 55 in stability, 29.2 in healthcare, 40.5 in culture and environment, 41.7 in education and 26.8 in infrastructure.

Last year, Dhaka scored 50 in stability, 29.2 in healthcare, 40.5 in culture and environment, 41.7 in education and 26.8 in infrastructure.

A slew of cities in emerging markets that are among the most exposed to the effects of climate change have seen their scores downgraded and these include New Delhi in India, which suffers from appalling air quality, Cairo in Egypt (where air quality is also a major issue) and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

A lack of a concerted global effort to tackle climate change risks further downward revisions in these scores, threatening to offset improvements in the other categories, such as education and infrastructure, which remain on a broadly upward trend.

The liveability ranking considers that any city with a rating of 80 or more will have few, if any, challenges to living standards. Any city with a score less than 50 will see most aspects of living severely restricted.