The world’s most livable city for 2026 has been revealed

Waterfront residential buildings are pictured in Copenhagen during sunset in this undated photo. (Pexels)

The world seems to be changing at lightning speed, so it’s perhaps good to know that some things remain the same — at least when it comes to the most livable city.

Copenhagen has taken the No. 1 spot on the annual list from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for the second year running.

The Danish capital beat out Austria’s Vienna, which previously had a three-year run at the top, for the second year in a row on the annual list, released on Tuesday.

The EIU, a sister organization to The Economist magazine, ranked 173 cities around the world on a number of different factors, including education, stability, health care, infrastructure and culture.

Copenhagen received “perfect” scores in three categories, including stability, infrastructure and education.

High-quality services

For American audiences looking down the index, New York rose three places to 66th, thanks to a significant improvement in its scores in the stability category, a result of falling crime rates and perceived lower risks of terrorist attacks.

While the Big Apple is climbing, Honolulu remains the highest-ranked U.S. city overall, despite falling two places to 25th position.

Vancouver, at No. 9, was the only North American city to crack the global top 10.

Copenhagen’s persistent success at the top was down to a “winning combination of excellent scores in stability and infrastructure, great culture and environment and high quality of public services,” said a spokesperson from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

In third place was Australia’s Melbourne, rising one spot since the previous year. Another Australian city, Sydney, jumped from sixth to fourth place.

The Swiss city of Zurich, which tied with Vienna in second place last year, dropped three spots, with fellow Swiss city Geneva just behind at number six. Osaka, in Japan, retained seventh place, while Australia’s Adelaide came in at eighth. Tokyo was 10th.

Meanwhile, the repercussions of the war with Iran were reflected in the rankings of cities in the Gulf region, which saw a decline in scores for the stability category.

The biggest downward movers were the Omani capital Muscat, falling 14 places to 123rd, and Kuwait City, dropping 12 spots to 105th.

The United Kingdom has bounced back after a drop in scores last year due to a period of rioting and unrest. Manchester leads as its highest-ranked city for the second time, in 52nd place, beating out London, which was 54th, as well as Edinburgh, at 64th.

Health-care boost

Although Western Europe ranked as the strongest region for livability, its average score of 91.7 was slightly lower than in 2025, while Asia’s rose by 0.3 to 73.9, largely thanks to stronger health-care scores, particularly in Chinese cities such as Fuzhou, located in the southeast of the country, which climbed seven places to 93rd.

“We upgraded health-care scores across the board for Chinese cities, reflecting the national improvements to funding schemes and investment,” added a spokesperson from the Economist Intelligence Unit, pointing to a new long-term care insurance system in the country as well as the improvement of health-care provision.

While Damascus, Syria is still ranked as the least livable in the world, there was a shake-up at the bottom of the list with Iranian city Tehran dropping to 164th place as a result of the war, while Kyiv, Ukraine has fallen to 166th place.

“The average livability score globally is the same as last year, because the stability declines (in the Middle East) and health-care improvements (in Asia) offset each other across the 173 cities,” said Ana Nicholls, industry director at EIU.

“Score increases in Asia mean that there are now nine Asian cities in the top 20, alongside seven European cities.”

1. Copenhagen, Denmark

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Melbourne, Australia

4. Sydney, Australia

5. Zurich, Switzerland

6. Geneva, Switzerland

7. Osaka, Japan

8. Adelaide, Australia

9. Vancouver, Canada

10. Tokyo, Japan

Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN