Toronto among top Canadians cities in EIU livability index
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Posted December 27, 2023 12:08 pm.
Last Updated December 27, 2023 1:31 pm.
Despite the high cost of living and ongoing housing crisis, Toronto is ranked among the top cities in Canada when it comes to the latest global liveability index.
The Economic Intelligence Unit put Vancouver at number five globally, ahead of Calgary, which is seventh, and Toronto, which is ninth.
At the top of the index sits Vienna.
The EIU says its “Liveability Index has risen significantly in the 2023 survey, reaching a 15-year high as the world moves on from the [COVID-19] pandemic,” and as health care and education “improve in many cities in Asia and the Middle East and Africa.”
It explains a “shift back towards normality” post-pandemic, as well as ” incremental improvements in livability made by many developing countries” have been the biggest drivers in the past year. However, the EIU notes stability has slipped since 2022, “amid several instances of civil unrest around the world.”
But a slip in stability wasn’t the case for the Canadian cities that made the top 10. The EIU says in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto, stability scores were “up compared with last year, when these cities were impacted by anti-vaccine protests.”
The EIU says, globally, the drop in stability ratings “has been modest.” Despite this, it notes high commodity prices, ongoing supply chain disruptions, food prices, and “currency weakness against the U.S. dollar for some countries will continue to fuel discontent in 2023.:
“Higher interest rates in the US and Europe have raised the risk of an increase in bankruptcies, bank failures and economic distress. Strains on public order and economic headwinds have also increased instances of crime in some cities, and these will continue to be a risk for the future. All of this suggests that stability scores in our Liveability Index are unlikely to recover quickly,” it explained.
When it comes to health care, Toronto scored a 100 in the index. This comes despite ongoing staffing and resource challenges many jurisdictions are dealing with.
The city also scored a 100 for education and stability, while Toronto got a 94.4 for culture and environment, and a 89.3 for infrastructure.