The world's best city to live in - and it's not in Africa, latest survey

The Austrian capital of Vienna was named the world's most livable city, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2018 global livability index.

The city topped the EIU's list of the 140 most livable cities in the world for the first time with a rating of 99.1 out of 100, unseating the Australian city of Melbourne, which held the title for seven consecutive years.

Both Melbourne and Vienna improved their ratings from 2017, but Vienna's improvements in the stability category helped push it ahead of Melbourne's rating of 98.4.

The worldwide league table ranks 140 cities on a range of factors, including political and social stability, crime, education and access to healthcare.

Six out of 10 of the Economist Intelligence Unit's least liveable cities for 2018 are located in Africa. 

Dakar, Senegal; Algiers, Algeria; Douala, Cameroon; Tripoli, Libya; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Lagos; Nigeria all feature on the list. 

The remaining four cities in the bottom 10 are Dhaka, Bangladesh; Damascus, Syria; Karachi, Pakistan and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 

The three best cities to live in, according to the index, are - in order - Vienna, Austria; Melbourne, Australia; and Osaka, Japan. 

Of the 140 cities surveyed, 49% registered negative changes in their overall liveability rank in the past six months and 34% experienced positive movements. The rest did not record any change, the unit said. 

According to the researchers, the cities that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries, and many cities in the top ten have relatively low population density.

View full report: EIU's

Sources: BBC | Reuters | JIC Media