According to the annual survey of the European Intelligence Unit (EIU), Vienna, the Austrian capital is  the world’s most liveable city in 2018, toppling Australia’s Melbourne which had topped the list for seven years in a row.

This is the first time a European city has topped the EIU ratings, which ranks 140 cities across the globe on a range of factors including political and social stability, crime, education and access to healthcare.

In the survey, Manchester saw the biggest improvement of any European city, rising by 16 places to 35th ahead of London by 13 places, the widest gap between the two cities since the survey began two decades ago.

The EIU said Manchester’s jump in the rankings was due to an improved security score. The survey had received heavy criticisms last year for demoting Manchester after the Manchester Arena attack which killed 22 persons.

Survey editor, Roxana Slavcheva said the city of Manchester had shown resilience in its recovery from a recent, high-profile terrorist attack which shook  its stability.

Slavcheva disclosed that the security situations in several western European cities had also improved, citing Vienna’s top place in the rankings as a reflection of the relative return to stability across much of Europe.

According to the survey, nearly half of the cities profiled have seen their liveability rankings improve over the past year.

At the other end of the scale, the EIU survey said war-torn Damascus in Syria is the least liveable city, closely followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh and Lagos in Nigeria.

The EIU said that crime, civil unrest, terrorism or war played a strong role in the ten-lowest liveable cities.

The top ten most liveable cities in 2018, according to the survey are:

  1. Vienna, Austria.
  2. Melbourne, Australia.
  3. Osaka, Japan.
  4. Calgary, Canada.
  5. Sydney, Australia.
  6. Vancouver, Canada.
  7. Tokyo, Japan.
  8. Toronto, Canada.
  9. Copenhagen, Denmark.
  10. Adelaide, Australia.

The report further revealed that the top ten least liveable cities in the world in 2018 are:

  1. Damascus, Syria.
  2. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  3. Lagos, Nigeria.
  4. Karachi, Pakistan.
  5. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
  6. Harare, Zimbabwe.
  7. Tripoli, Libya.
  8. Douala, Cameroon.
  9. Algiers, Algeria.
  10. Dakar, Senegal.