Cities in Australia and Canada dominate top-10 list of 'most livable'

Six of the top 10 most livable cities, according to The Economist, are in Australia and Canada.

The ranking takes 30 factors into account, "related to safety, health care, educational resources, infrastructure and the environment."

Here are the top 10 most livable cities in the world, according to the assessment:

  • 1 - Melbourne, Australia
  • 2 - Vienna, Austria
  • 3 - Vancouver, Canada
  • 4 - Toronto, Canada
  • 5 - Calgary, Canada
  • 5 - Adelaide, Australia
  • 7 - Perth, Australia
  • 8 - Auckland, New Zealand
  • 9 - Helsinki, Finland
  • 10 - Hamburg, Germany

In all, 140 cities were compared.

The worst place to live, according to the publication, is Damascus, Syria, because of ongoing civil war.

Civil unrest lead the publication to downgrade many cities in western Europe. Paris, for instance, dropped in livability after terrorist attacks in the past year.

American cities that have dropped in ranking due to "civil unrest" include Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago.

Read the full report here.

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