Global city rankings offer one way of looking at how urban environments support everyday life. The Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Liveability Index evaluates 173 cities across stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, highlighting both long-term patterns and changes from one year to the next. In the 2026 edition, Copenhagen has been named the world's most liveable city for the second consecutive year, followed by Vienna and Melbourne. The Danish capital scored 98 out of 100 overall, receiving perfect scores in stability, education, and infrastructure. The global average remains unchanged at 76.1, with improvements in healthcare, education, and infrastructure offsetting continued declines in stability.
Western Europe remains the highest-scoring region, with an average liveability score of 91.7, while Asia recorded the largest improvement, rising by 0.3 points to 73.9. Nine Asian cities now rank among the top 20, driven in part by improved healthcare scores across Chinese cities following increased public investment. Fuzhou recorded the largest rise, moving seven places to 93rd, while Tokyo also climbed to 10th. The top ten is otherwise dominated by cities in Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, and Austria, including Sydney, Zurich, Geneva, Osaka, Adelaide, Vancouver, and Tokyo.
Stability, however, remains the index's main area of decline, with average scores falling by 0.5 points across the 173 cities. The sharpest deterioration occurred in Southwest Asia and North Africa, where the regional average fell by one point. Muscat and Kuwait City recorded the largest drops, falling 14 and 12 places respectively, while Tehran entered the bottom ten at 164th. At the opposite end of the ranking, Damascus remains the world's least liveable city, followed by Tripoli.
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Top Ten Most Liveable Cities in 2026
1. Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Sydney, Australia
5. Zurich, Switzerland
6. Geneva, Switzerland
7. Osaka, Japan
8. Adelaide, Australia
9. Vancouver, Canada
10. Tokyo, Japan
Read below for the bottom ten positions in EIU's Global Liveability Index 2026.
