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  • Melbourne has been the most livable

  • city in the world for the past seven years.

  • But this year it lost the top spot to Vienna.

  • Home to Strauss and Schubert and famous for its

  • coffee houses, Vienna scored an almost perfect 99.1%.

  • But what makes a city livable?

  • The Economist intelligence unit has been analyzing this.

  • It has ranked 140 cities according to stability,

  • education, healthcare, infrastructure,

  • and culture and environment.

  • Most livable cities tend to be mid sized in wealthy

  • countries and with low population densities.

  • Copenhagen is the only other European city in the top 10.

  • Australia and Canada each have three cities and Japan two.

  • Western Europe and North America are

  • the most livable regions in the world.

  • The Middle East and Africa the least.

  • While Asia and Australasia are home to some

  • of the world's most livable and unlivable cities.

  • Many factors impact how livable a city

  • is like natural disasters.

  • Hurricanes Irma and Maria destroyed much

  • of Puerto Rico this year.

  • The capital San Juan fell further

  • in rank than any other city.

  • The ending of Ivory Coast's 13 year UN peacekeeping

  • mission demonstrated a step toward stability

  • and a steady increase in its livability.

  • The rankings of cities like Damascus, Lagos,

  • Karachi, and Tripoli show the extent to which

  • conflict contributes to low livability scores.

  • And Caracas, the least livable city in Latin America,

  • is only set to get worse owing to the deepening

  • economic crisis and rising authoritarianism in Venezuela.

  • Mega cities like London, Paris, and New York have high

  • levels of crime, congestion, and public transport problems

  • which keep them out of the top spots.

  • This year the world overall has become

  • a better place to live.

  • This is because of the decrease in terrorism threats,

  • specifically in western Europe.

  • Vienna's increased stability is what has

  • given it the edge this year.

Melbourne has been the most livable

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