Copenhagen tops EIU livability ranking for second straight year; Osaka, Tokyo only Asian cities in top 10

Copenhagen has been named the world's most livable city for the second consecutive year, according to the 2026 Global Liveability Index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of British weekly The Economist.

The EIU ranks 173 major cities worldwide each year, evaluating them across 30 indicators in five categories: stability, healthcare, environment and culture, education and infrastructure.

The Danish capital earned perfect scores in stability — which carries a 25 percent weighting — as well as in education (10 percent) and infrastructure (20 percent), propelling it to the top spot in the rankings published Tuesday.

Vienna, which held the No. 1 position for three consecutive years from 2022, settled for second place for the second year running. The Austrian capital received perfect scores in healthcare and education this year. Copenhagen had previously lost points in the stability category following a bomb-attack threat ahead of a Taylor Swift concert in August 2024 and the foiling of a plot to attack a train station in February last year.

Australian port city Melbourne ranked third, with Sydney fourth. Australia placed three cities in the top 10, with Adelaide coming in eighth.

Melbourne scored 96 points in the environment and culture category, while Sydney received perfect scores in healthcare and education.

Zurich, which tied for second last year, fell to fifth place this year. Fellow Swiss city Geneva followed in sixth.

Among Asian cities, Japan's Osaka ranked seventh and Tokyo tenth — the only two Asian cities to crack the top 10. Tokyo climbed three places from last year on improved scores in the environment and culture category.

Canada's Vancouver came in ninth, the only North American city to make the top 10.

New Zealand's Auckland, which ranked seventh last year, dropped out of the top 10.

By region, Western European cities posted the highest average score at 91.7 points, though that edged down from last year.

The 58 Asian cities surveyed averaged 73.9 points, up 0.3 points from last year. Singapore (26th) and Hong Kong (44th) held their positions unchanged.

Cities in the Middle East and North Africa saw their average score fall 1 point from last year to 61.2, as security conditions in the Gulf region deteriorated amid the war with Iran. The average ranking of the 18 cities in the region also dropped by more than three places. Muscat in Oman (123rd) and Kuwait City (105th) recorded the steepest declines, falling 14 and 12 places respectively from the previous year.

All 19 Chinese cities in the survey improved their healthcare scores, lifting their overall rankings. The gains were attributed to expanded social insurance coverage and investment in medical infrastructure. Among them, Fuzhou, an industrial city in the southeast, led the group with a seven-place rise to 93rd.

New York climbed three places to 66th.

The average score across all 173 cities surveyed was 76.1 points, unchanged from last year.

At the bottom of the rankings, Damascus — Syria's capital, still recovering from civil war — finished last, while cities in war-torn countries including Tehran (164th) and Kyiv (166th) also ranked among the lowest 10.

The survey underpinning the index was conducted in May. Participants rated each of the 30 indicators across five categories on a scale from 1, indicating an intolerable condition, to 100, the most ideal.