Feb 12, 2010
By Jessica Lim
By Jessica Lim
The Republic scored better than culture capitals New York and London, which lost out because of crumbling infrastructure, but lagged behind other Asian capitals like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Osaka. -- ST PHOTO: LIM YONG
SINGAPORE scores highly in areas like infrastructure and stability, but fares poorly in culture and living environment indices.
As a result, it was ranked the 53rd most liveable city in the annual survey by the The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which compared 140 cities worldwide. Vancouver again topped the list, followed by Vienna and Melbourne in Australia. Three other Australian cities also made it to the top 10 list - Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.
The Republic scored better than culture capitals New York and London, which lost out because of crumbling infrastructure, but lagged behind other Asian capitals like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Osaka.
The survey examined 30 factors in five categories - stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education as well as infrastructure. Singapore obtained an overall score of 88.5/100.
The annual survey uses research involving resident experts and its own analysts.
Singapore lost out in the environment and culture category, in which it scored 75.7/100, lower than Hong Kong and South Korea. But it got full marks for infrastructure. The Lion City also fared well for stability, healthcare and education.
SYDNEY - VANCOUVER has again topped a list of the top 10 most liveable cities in the world, giving the Canadian west coast city an extra boost as it opens the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Vancouver scored 98 per cent on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure - a score unchanged from last year. The city has also topped the index since at least 2007.
In the 2010 ranking, there was little change in the top positions with Vienna, Melbourne and Toronto still taking the second, third and fourth positions and the top 10 dominated by Canadian and Australian cities which took seven of the 10 slots.
Johannesburg, which is hosting the soccer World Cup finals in June, came in 92nd place, the highest score in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Economist Intelligence Unit survey ranked 140 cities on 30 factors such as healthcare, culture and environment, and education and personal safety, using research involving resident experts and its own analysts. It said in a statement that these rankings were used by employers assigning hardship allowances as part of expatriate relocation packages.
New York was ranked 56th, two slots behind London which was at number 54, while Los Angeles ranked at number 47. Zimbabwe's capital Harare scored the least, making it the list's worst city, with a rating of 37.5. -- REUTERS
