Mumbai slips 2 spots to 119 in global liveability index

Mumbai slipped two spots in the Economic Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index 2019, released on Wednesday.

Mumbai fell from 117 to 119 in 2018 as a result of a downgrade in the culture category, the report stated. Even New Delhi, which was ranked 112 in 2018, fell six places to 118 this year, owing to an increase in petty crimes and recording some of the world’s worst air quality levels, the report stated.

The global survey assesses which locations around the world provide the best or worst living conditions. It ranks cities under five broad categories of stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

With an overall score of 56.2, Mumbai has scored only 51.8 in the infrastructure category and 53.5 in culture and environment. Delhi has got an overall score of 56.3.

The survey assigned 25% weightage to the culture and environment category where the indicators include humidity, temperature rating, discomfort of climate to travellers, level of corruption, social or religious restrictions and sporting or cultural availability.

AV Shenoy, from citizen group, Mumbai Vikas Samiti, said Mumbai has reached its capacity. “Increased concretisation results in rise in temperatures. Mumbai is so congested because of unplanned development that the only solution now is to develop the metropolitan region,” he said.

Pankaj Joshi, urban planner and executive director of the Mumbai-based Urban Design Research Institute, said that judging all cities on the same parameters was unfair. “If we look at it in terms of inclusivity, then cities like Mumbai provide livelihood to lakhs of individuals. Also, the population of all top 10 cities is way less than a city like Mumbai, to compare it on the same scale. Although there are issues concerning infrastructure and housing, we cannot look at Indian cities through a western lens.”

The survey has ranked Austrian capital Vienna as the most liveable city for the second consecutive year of the 140 cities surveyed. Vienna is followed by the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney. Three Asian cities — Port Moresby (135th), Karachi (136th) and Dhaka (138th) — are among the ten least liveable globally.

Agathe Demarais, the EIU’s global forecasting director, said, “Few cities in Asia have registered major changes to their score over the past year, with the exceptions of Colombo, which has seen its stability score fall following the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, and New Delhi, which dropped six places in the ranking relative to last year.”

The only other Asian cities awarded scores in the top tier of liveability (a rating of 80 or above) are Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Nouméa.

First Published: Sep 05, 2019 01:05 IST