It was a long time coming, but a shift back to normality after the years-long Covid pandemic is reshaping the list of the most liveable cities in the world.

As upended lives return to normal, education, health and cultural facilities are improving, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index 2023, which compiles the list. This year, the global average score was the highest in 15 years.

For the second year running, the Austrian capital Vienna took the title of world’s most liveable city, based on a wide range of indicators, followed by Copenhagen. Sydney and Melbourne both jumped, to claim the third and fourth spots, after a particularly infectious Covid strain saw them tumble down the index last year.

Asia-Pacific cities were some of the most improved destinations, with eight of the 10 biggest upward movers coming from the region. New Zealand’s Wellington rose 35 spots to take 23rd place, while Auckland rose 25 places to land at number 10. Hanoi, Vietnam moved up 20 places to 129.

"The shift towards normality after the pandemic has overall boded well for global liveability in 2023,” said Upasana Dutt, head of the liveability index at EIU. “Education has emerged stronger with children returning to schools, alongside a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and healthcare systems, with some notable improvements in cities across developing economies of Asia and the Middle East.”

Of the 10 cities to slip farthest down the rankings, three were in the UK — Edinburgh, Manchester and London — and two in the US, Los Angeles and San Diego. Most Chinese cities were “broadly stable when compared to last year’s results,” according to the survey.

Damascus, Syria and Libya’s Tripoli remain at the bottom of the list, held back, the report says, by social unrest, terrorism and conflict.

The EIU ranked 173 cities on more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Data was collected Feb. 13 and March 12.

These are the top 10 most liveable cities in 2023 (ranking numbers are the same where cities’ scores were identical):

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Sydney, Australia
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Calgary, Canada
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Toronto, Canada
10. Osaka, Japan
11. Auckland, New Zealand

And these are the bottom 10:
164 Douala, Cameroon
165 Kyiv, Ukraine
166 Harare, Zimbabwe
166 Dhaka, Bangladesh
168 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
169 Karachi, Pakistan
170 Lagos, Nigeria
171 Algiers, Algeria
172 Tripoli, Libya
173 Damascus, Syria