Karachi ranked among world's 'least livable' cities for eighth consecutive year

For the eighth consecutive year, Karachi has been ranked among the 10 least liveable cities in the world, according to an annual index released by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Every city is assigned a rating for relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. 

Scores are compiled and weighted to provide a score in the range 1-100, where 1 is considered intolerable and 100 is considered ideal.

The port city was ranked 169th out of a total of 173 cities in the Global Livability Index 2024, the sixth least liveable city in the world.

Karachi has an overall score of 42.7. It has performed most poorly on the stability indicator, with a score of 20. The city has scored 54.2 on the healthcare indicator, 35.9 on culture and environment, 75 on education and 51.8 on infrastructure.

Only Lagos, Algiers, Tripoli and Damascus are ranked lower than Pakistan's financial hub. Karachi is the only city in Pakistan ranked on the index.

Meanwhile, the Austrian capital Vienna has been ranked as the world's most liveable city in the world, followed by Denmark's Copenhagen and Switzerland's Zurich as second and third, respectively.

Top 10 cities to live in the world:

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

3. Zurich, Switzerland

4. Melbourne, Australia

5. Calgary, Canada

5. Geneva, Switzerland

7. Sydney, Australia

7. Vancouver, Canada

9. Osaka, Japan

9. Auckland, New Zealand

Least 10 cities to live in the world:

1. Caracas, Venezuela

2. Kyiv, Ukraine

3. Port Moresby, PNG

4. Harare, Zimbabwe

5. Dhaka, Bangladesh

6. Karachi, Pakistan

7. Lagos, Nigeria

8. Algiers, Algeria

9. Tripoli, Libya

10. Damascus, Syria