Toronto can't crack top 10 most livable cities in world for third straight year
Global Livability Index ranks Vancouver lone Canadian and North American metropolis near the top of the list
Author of the article:Spiro Papuckoski
Published Jul 08, 2026 • Last updated 19 hours ago • 2 minute read
The downtown Toronto waterfront skyline.
The downtown Toronto waterfront skyline. Photo by Cynthia McLeod /Toronto Sun
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For the third straight year, Toronto didn’t crack the top 10 most livable cities in the world.
The latest rankings of 173 cities from the Global Livability Index, released Tuesday, saw Vancouver slide up one spot on the list from 2025 to ninth overall, the top Canadian metropolis based on 30 indicators grouped into five categories, which include stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
“Vancouver (Canada), which had led the index for many years, is the only North American city represented,” the survey said. “All of the top 10 have perfect scores for education, with most also scoring 100 for healthcare provision.”
Danish capital Copenhagen was listed as the most livable city for the second year in a row, scoring a perfect 100 in three categories and above 95 in the other two, based on research and analysis from the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is owned by The Economist magazine.
Copenhagen was followed by Vienna, Austria, Melbourne, Australia, Sydney, Australia, and Zurich, Switzerland.
Besides Vancouver, Geneva, Switzerland, Osaka, Japan, Adelaide, Australia, and Tokyo, Japan rounded out the top 10.
Vancouver among top livable cities. TORONTO SUN GRAPHICS
Vancouver among top livable cities. TORONTO SUN GRAPHICS
Top cities had perfect scores for education
The survey, conducted in May, saw cities at the top with perfect scores for education, and most were also given 100 for healthcare.
The survey ranked stability, which looks at the prevalence of petty and violent crime as well as threats of terror, military conflict and civil unrest, with a 25% weight. Healthcare (20%), culture and environment (25%), education (10%), and infrastructure (20%) rounded out the rest of the score.
Toronto has not been ranked in the top 10 since 2023, when it was listed ninth overall behind the seventh-ranked Calgary.
The year before, the city was up one spot in eighth, behind only Calgary and Vancouver.
Toronto saw its highest ranking in the past decade when it was listed fourth overall from 2015 to 2017.
Syria’s capital Damascus, ranked at bottom
Syria’s capital, Damascus, which continues to recover from its civil war, was ranked last with an overall score of 32 out of 100.
Other notable cities at the bottom of the list include Kyiv, Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia, and Iran’s capital, Tehran, after the United States and Israel launched military strikes earlier this year against its leadership and nuclear infrastructure.
“The bottom 10 cities in our index have nearly all been affected by war or poverty, or both, with all scoring particularly poorly for stability,” the report said.
EIU’s Global Liveability Index evaluates living conditions across 173 cities, providing a globally recognised benchmark for urban liveability and resilience. By measuring indicators across stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, the index quantifies the...
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