A global business intelligence, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has said Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital city is the world’s second least liveable urban area.
EIU ranked Lagos 171 out of 172 countries in the list of most liveable cities in the world for the first quarter of 2022, according to the latest 2022 Global Liveability Index.
This report makes the Nigerian best city the worst in Africa as Damascus (Syria) and Tripoli (Libya) continue to languish at the bottom of the list along with Lagos (Nigeria) as they face social unrest, terrorism and conflict.
“The least liveable cities were Damascus in Syria, Lagos in Nigeria, Tripoli in Libya, Algiers in Algeria and Karachi in Pakistan, which scored 30.7, 32.2, 34.2, 37.0 and 37.5 respectively.
“The EIU further highlighted the top five most liveable cities in the world which are Vienna, Austria scoring 99. 1; Copenhagen, Denmark with 98.0; Zurich, Switzerland with 96.3; Calgary, Canada had 96.3 and Vancouver, Canada with 96.1
“However, most of the cities in the bottom ten have improved their scores compared with last year, as COVID-19 pandemic induced pressures,” EIU stated.
The EIU, which is a sister organization to The Economist, ranked 173 cities around the world on a variety of factors, including health care, crime rates, political stability, infrastructure and access to green space.
The EIU examines the quality of health care, education, infrastructure, stability, and culture when assessing the living conditions of each city.
More than 30 factors are taken into account when calculating each rank, which is then compiled into a weighted score between one and 100.
From the indicators used for the ranking index which were stability, healthcare, culture & environment, education and infrastructure, Lagos scored 20.0, 20.8, 44.9, 25.0 and 46.4 respectively which dragged its score to 32.2 from a total of 100.