Lagos ranked 2nd least livable cities in world

Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos state has been ranked second in the top ten least livable cities in the world.

In the annual ranking released by The Economist, Lagos ranks second behind Damascus and ahead of Tripoli and Dhaka.The Austrian city of Melbourne remained top on the list of the World’s Most Liveable city for the seventh year running.

Economist noted that terrorism and diplomatic tensions are eroding living conditions worldwide.

The Australian city was ranked number one out of 140 cities, slightly ahead of the Austrian capital Vienna, with the Canadian trio of Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary completing the top five.

The survey, released yesterday, scores cities on five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education and infrastructure.

The Economist’s Intelligence Unit found that medium-sized cities in wealthy countries fared best.

Major hubs like New York, London, Paris and Tokyo were hives of activity but lost points due to high levels of crime and overcrowded public transport.

More broadly, global stability continued to weaken due to the increase in terror-related incidents world-wide.

The United States had seen a decline in a number of its cities over the past few years related to growing unrest.

It said increased diplomatic tensions, from Russia and the Ukraine to North Korea’s nuclear threat and Iran’s relationship with its neighbours, was leading to declining stability scores around the world.

Conflict was the main factor for those cities finishing on the bottom of the survey, with Syria’s Damascus at number 140, behind Nigeria’s Lagos, under threat from Islamist groups like Boko Haram and Libyan capital Tripoli, caught up in Middle Eastern strife.

(Punch)