Joannah Connolly
REW
Cost of housing hasn?t damaged city?s ranking, although its points have slipped slightly in Economist report
Despite its points sliding slightly, Vancouver has held onto its third-place ranking for the seventh consecutive year in what is arguably the most-respected global liveable cities chart.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) placed Vancouver third under Melbourne, Australia and Vienna, Austria. Toronto came in fourth place, just a hair behind Vancouver in points, whereas in previous years Vancouver enjoyed a bigger lead over Toronto. Calgary was in joint fifth place with Adelaide, Australia.
The EIU’s ranking tends to prioritize medium-sized cities in large, developed countries with low-density populations. Six of the top 10 cities are in Australia and Canada.
This year’s top 10 list is identical to last year’s. However, outside the top 10, several cities such as Manchester and Stockholm have been downgraded because of recent terror activity.
EIU researchers ranked cities based on five categories – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
Housing affordability is just one of the seven sub-categories in the infrastructure section, so even if this factor was ranked poorly, it would likely have fairly little effect on the overall score.
Vancouver was ranked number one between 2004 and 2010, but was relegated to third place in 2011 after the EIU factored in bad traffic on the Malahat – a highway on Vancouver Island.
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