The Global Liveability Index 2019 has placed Bangladesh capital Dhaka as the third least livable city in the world, just after war-torn Syrian capital Damascus and Lagos.
The same index of the previous year ranked Dhaka at the second least livable city in the world.
This year, Vienna became the index topper as the world's most livable city in 2019, followed by two of Australia’s largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney, and Osaka and Calgary after considering various factors and indicators among 140 cities around the world.
The index was researched by The Economist Intelligence Unit and released on Wednesday.
Ranked at 138, Dhaka received an overall rating of 39.2 (100=ideal) in this year’s index.
Dhaka received 55 for stability, 29.2 for healthcare, 40.5 for culture and environment, 41.7 for education and 26.8 in infrastructure.
The top 10 of the index was dominated by Australia, Canada, Japan, and Europe.
Biggest improves in the index include Moscow, Belgrade, and Hanoi, while Detroit, Tunis, and Tripoli were among the biggest decliners.
Indian cities have not fared too well in this year’s index with both Delhi and Mumbai sliding down ranks relative to last year.
New Delhi dropped six places to 118, from 112 last year, while Mumbai also fell by two places to 119, from 117 last year.
Pakistan’s Karachi also featured in the bottom 10.
According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, every city is assigned a rating of relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. For qualitative indicators, a rating is awarded based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors. For quantitative indicators, a rating is calculated based on the relative performance of a number of external data points.
The scores are then compiled into an index and weighted to provide a score of 1–100, where 1is considered intolerable and 100 is considered ideal.