The Economist: “Once again the liveability index from EIU, our sister company, is one of our most popular pieces of data journalism this year. Readers in their millions come to find where their city sits in the ranking, but they leave with a broader understanding of the world. This year marked a full recovery from the covid pandemic and the index suggests that life in cities is better than at any time in the past 15 years, albeit not quite everywhere. Kyiv—too dangerous to be surveyed when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022—is back in the ranking but sits near the bottom, hampered by war-damaged infrastructure. And there’s a clear pattern among the best performers. Nine of the top ten are what I call “Goldilocks cities”: not too big (the high crime rates and congestion found in metropolises can drag scores down) and not too small (good transport and cultural attractions are a must). This year, Vienna was just right.”

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