Calgary in Top 5

Calgary in top 5 world's most livable cities: survey

Calgary made it into the top five list of the world's most livable cities, while Melbourne claimed second place from Vienna and Australian and Canadian cities dominated the list's top 10 spots.

In the annual survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit, the Canadian West Coast city and 2010 Winter Olympics host scored 98 per cent on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure -a score unchanged from last year.

It has topped the list from 2007. Although Melbourne since the Austrian capital for a silver medal, there was no other major change near the top of the list of 140 cities worldwide. Auckland, N.Z., came in 10th.
"Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion," Jon Copestake, editor of the report, said in a statement.

Pittsburgh was the top U.S. city with 29th place -just ahead of Honolulu -while Los Angeles moved up three places to 44th and New York held onto the 56th spot. London moved up one place to 53rd while Paris came in at No. 16.
The top Asian city was Osaka at No. 12, tying Geneva, Switzerland, and beating out the Japanese capital of Tokyo, which came in at 18.
Beijing, capital of the world's most populous nation and No. 2 economy, straggled in at 72.
Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, once again claimed the worst position with a rating of 37.5 per cent, narrowing beating out the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka.

The Economist Intelligence Unit survey ranks cities based on 30 factors such as health care, culture and environment, and education and personal safety.
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1. Vancouver, Canada
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Canada
6. Helsinki, Finland
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Perth, Australia
8. Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand
The bottom 10 cities were:
1. Harare, Zimbabwe
2. Dhaka , Bangladesh
3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
4. Lagos, Nigeria
5. Algiers , Algeria
6. Karachi, Pakistan
7. Douala, Cameroon
8. Tehran, Iran
9. Dakar, Senegal
10. Colombo, Sri Lanka
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/21/us-cities-liveable-idUSTRE71K0NS20110221