Vienna, the capital of Austria, remains for the second consecutive year in the first place in the Top 140 cities with the best living conditions according to the prestigious publication The Economist.

In 2018, it was for the first time that a European city took the first place in this top selection by Economist Intelligence Unit, a division of The Economist Group. Vienna ended the supremacy of the Australian city of Melbourne, which had been the leader of this top for seven years.

Each of the 140 cities is awarded a score (from 0 to 100), in different categories, such as living standards, criminality, infrastructure, access to education, health system, economic and political stability.

Vienna achieved an “almost ideal” score of 99.1, Melbourne – 98.4, the podium being completed by Sydney, also from Australia, with 98.1.

Although the top 10 is dominated by Australia, Canada and Japan, Europe has the best results overall. Eight cities in the top 20 are in northern Europe, with Copenhagen (Denmark) in ninth place, Zurich, Frankfurt, and Geneva, in positions 11, 12, and 14 respectively.

Helsinki, Amsterdam and Hamburg are also in the top 20, while Berlin and Luxembourg are in the 21st and 23rd positions.

Honolulu is the best-ranked US city, 22nd, and Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Washington are in the top 40.

London and New York rank 48th and 58th, respectively. Although they have received good scores in the categories dedicated to culture, they have poor scores in terms of infrastructure, stability, with increased risks in terms of criminality and terrorism.

Paris went down six places, up to 26, obtaining a lower score especially after the anti-government protests of the “yellow vest”.

The top 10 cities with the worst living conditions are Damascus (Syria), Lagos (Nigeria), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Tripoli (Libya), Karachi (Pakistan), Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) , Harare (Zimbabwe), Douala (Cameroon), Algiers (Algeria) and Caracas (Venezuela).