Dhaka has ranked the 7th in the latest list of worst livable cities in the world in the Global Liveability Index 2022 published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on Thursday.

Dhaka’s position has moved up three spots from last year’s ranking.

The EIU is an initiative by The Economist magazine which provides deep insight and analysis of the economic and political developments in the increasingly complex global environment.

According to the index, Austria’s capital Vienna is the best livable city in the world with a score of 99.1, while Syria’s capital Damascus has ranked as the least livable city with a score of 30.7.

Dhaka’s score in the index is 39.2, better than Pakistan’s Karachi (37.5).

The top ten position in the index have been earned by mostly European cities (Vienna of Austria, Copenhagen of Denmark, Zurich of Switzerland, Geneva of Switzerland, Frankfurt of Germany and Amsterdam of The Netherlands).

Three Canadian cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary), one Japanese city (Osaka), and one Australian city (Melbourne) were placed in the top ten list.

No cities from the United States (USA) have been able to secure a top spot in the index.

The EIU conducted a survey between February 14 and March 13 of this year before preparing the index. Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has been left out of the ranking due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, while ranking of two Russian cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg) have deteriorated.

EIU prepares the index based on five categories- stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure, which means the conditions of these five aspects of a city translates into the position of it in the index.

The better the situations of these aspects of a city, the higher is its place in the index.