Copenhagen named world's most livable city for 2025: Here's why
What's the story
Copenhagen has been named the world's most livable city for 2025, ending Vienna's three-year reign at the top.
The annual ranking by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) evaluates 173 cities based on healthcare, education, stability, infrastructure and environment.
Copenhagen scored "perfect" in stability, education and infrastructure to clinch the title.
Vienna and Zurich shared second place while Melbourne (Australia) retained its fourth position.
Ranking shift
Vienna's decline to joint 2nd place
Vienna's fall to joint second place was due to a significant drop in its stability score.
The decline was linked to recent events, including a bomb scare at a Taylor Swift concert last summer that led to the event's cancelation.
Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at the EIU, said that global livability had remained flat over the past year and that, as in 2024, stability scores had declined at a global level.
Healthcare impact
Calgary and Toronto ranked lower this year
Calgary, which was fifth in 2024, fell out of the top 10 this year after a lower healthcare score.
Toronto also ranked lower this year, falling from 12th to 16th place.
Bhattacharyya told CNN Travel that it was really just reflecting the long waiting lists for medical checkups.
It was said that there had been a shortage of staff at medical facilities and hospitals.
City comparison
Honolulu leads among US cities
Honolulu, Hawaii ranked the highest among all US cities on the list, placing 23rd overall.
Bhattacharyya explained that they had seen a trend where smaller or medium-sized cities in the US actually performed much better than the really big cities like New York City and Los Angeles.
This is mainly due to strains on public services infrastructure in larger cities.
UK decline
London, Manchester and Edinburgh dropped in the rankings
London, Manchester and Edinburgh also dropped in the rankings after lower stability scores.
This comes after a year of rioting and civil unrest in the UK over an anti-immigrant misinformation campaign that sparked outrage over a stabbing attack in Southport, northern England.
London dropped from 45th to 54th place, Manchester from 43rd to 52nd and Edinburgh moved from 59th to 64th.
Ranking improvements
Al Khobar, Jakarta see significant improvements
While some cities fell down the list, others improved their positions significantly.
Saudi Arabia's Al Khobar jumped 13 places from 148th to 135th. The city has made significant investments in healthcare and education access under Vision 2030, a comprehensive plan to diversify its economy and reduce reliance on oil.
Indonesia's Jakarta also improved its ranking by 10 places due to an improved stability score.
Least livable
Damascus, Syria remains the least livable city
The cities at the bottom of the list haven't changed much over the past year.
Damascus, Syria remains the least livable city in the world, even six months after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad. Tripoli in Libya came just above it.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, was third from the bottom, followed by Karachi in Pakistan and Algiers in Algeria as the fourth and fifth least livable cities.