Calgary Ranks 7th Most Livable City on Earth in 2023!

Calgary has been named the seventh most livable city on the planet by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Livability Index 2023.

While Calgary is no stranger to the EIU’s annual list, the city slipped down four spots from third place in 2022, and is also down two spots from fifth place in 2021. Regardless, the important indicators used by the EIU to create these rankings should make all Calgarians proud that our city has remained in the top 10 for more than a decade!

Vienna, Austria, remained in first place, and Copenhagen, Denmark, in second. Melbourne and Sydney, both in Australia, placed third and fourth. Vancouver and Toronto also made the top 10 most livable cities in 2023, placing fifth and ninth, respectively. Overall, the top ten list is entirely dominated by Western countries and Japan.

Here are the top 10 cities on the EIU’s Global Livability Index 2023 along with their corresponding score.

Top 10 Most Livable Cities in the World 2023

1 – Vienna, Austria – 98.4

2 – Copenhagen, Denmark – 98.0

3 – Melbourne, Australia – 97.8

4 – Sydney, Australia – 97.4

5 – Vancouver, Canada – 97.3

6 – Zurich, Switzerland – 97.1

7 – Geneva, Switzerland – 96.8

7 – Calgary, Canada – 96.8

9 – Toronto, Canada – 96.5

10 – Osaka, Japan – 96.0

10 – Auckland, New Zealand – 96.0

EIU’s Methodology

So, just how does the EIU determine how “livable” a city is? While they can’t take into account personal opinions (you or I might just really love living somewhere despite its score by the EIU), what the index does is evaluate different indicators to create a detailed representation of livability apart from the economy.

A total of 173 cities were surveyed and given a score between 1 and 100 for the following categories:

• Stability
• Culture & Environment
• Healthcare
• Infrastructure
• Education

Calgary raked up a total of 96.8 out of 100 points, up 0.5 points from its 2022 score. Our city also received perfect scores in the Stability, Healthcare, Education and Infrastructure categories.

A score of 87.3 for culture and environment weighted at 20% leaves some room for improvement – and for jumping up in the rankings even further sometime soon. Let’s get to it!

EIU’s Indicators

What indicators are used by the EIU to determine the rankings? Here’s a deeper dive into some of the ranking factors considered along with the overall weight of the category:

Stability – 25%

• Prevalence of petty crime
• Prevalence of violent crime
• Threat of terror
• Threat of military conflict
• Threat of conflict and civil unrest

Culture & Environment – 25%

• Humidity/temperature rating
• Discomfort of climate to travellers
• Level of corruption
• Social or religious restrictions
• Level of censorship
• Sporting availability
• Cultural availability
• Food and drink
• Consumer goods and services

Heathcare – 20%

• Availability of private healthcare
• Quality of private healthcare
• Availability of public healthcare
• Quality of public healthcare
• Availability of over-the-counter drugs
• General healthcare indicators

Infrastructure – 20%

• Quality of road network
• Quality of public transportation
• Quality of international links
• Availability of good quality housing
• Quality of energy provision
• Quality of water provision
• Quality of telecommunications

Education – 10%

• Availability of private education
• Quality of private education
• Public education indicators

I Love Calgary!

Calgary is a great place to live. Whether it be the river parks and pathways, vibrant family-friendly neighbourhoods, or easy access to the mountains, there is a lot to love about being a resident of the world’s seventh most livable city!

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