Brussels drops five places in ranking of most liveable cities

In the annual ranking of the world's most liveable cities by British magazine The Economist, Brussels has dropped five places, from 30 to 35. Vienna tops the list for the third year in a row.

The annual survey rates 173 cities across five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

With a loss of five places, Brussels is the country with the seventh-largest decline in the ranking. The capital however remains a pleasant place to live according to the ranking, with a score of 91.4 out of 100. The reasons for the drop are reduced stability, partly due to disruptive demonstrations - think of the farmers' protests for example.

Of the five categories in the index, stability decreased the most. Due to increasing protests, the top 10 of countries with the strongest declines include eight Western European cities, no less than five of which are German. The Israeli city of Tel Aviv lost twenty places due to the war with Hamas.

Vienna is the world's most liveable city for the third year in a row. For four out of five categories, Austria's capital scores a perfect 100. For culture and environment, the city ‘only’ scores 93.5, due to a lack of major sporting events.

The least liveable city remains Damascus, with Tripoli one place above it. Both Syria and Libya have been suffering from civil war for years.

_{People throw eggs at riot police forces as farmers demonstrated in Brussels on 26 March, 2024. © BELGA PHOTO Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP}