The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister publication of The Economist of London, has ranked Lagos State as the fourth worst city to live in the world.
EIU’s June 2023 Global Liveability report, published on Thursday, said that Lagos ranked above Damascus, war-torn Syria’s capital, Algiers of Algeria, and Tripoli of Libya.
About 30 qualitative and quantitative factors; stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure were used to survey 173 cities.
In 2022, Lagos came second in worst-liveable city after holding the position for two consecutive years behind Damascus which has been held down by social unrest, terrorism, and conflict.
A survey of 140 countries ranked Lagos as the worst city to live in the world after Damascus in 2017.
The report partly read, “Cities such as Lagos and Algiers gained ground at bottom ranking, with some improvements in their healthcare and education systems. Both are in countries that are energy exporters and have to some extent benefited from higher global oil and gas prices.
“Although corruption continues to be an issue, some additional public funding has been made available for infrastructure and public services, which have also benefited from the decline in covid cases.”
The Austrian capital, Vienna, and Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, retained their positions as the first and second most liveable cities in the world owing to their “unsurpassed combination of stability, good infrastructure, strong education and healthcare services, and plenty of culture and entertainment”.
Melbourne and Sydney, cities in Australia, and Vancouver in Canada came in at third, fourth, and fifth places respectively on top of the ranks.