I don't know enough about European cities to say why they might have ranked them outside of the top ten. The scores for the top ten were all pretty close though, so there could be plenty of cities outside of the top ten that score quite high as well. Unfortunately they want you to pay to see the whole list.
Because I love lists, here is a list from Monocle magazine's 2010 World's Most Livable Cities index, which appears to be much more inclined to like Europe. It aims to rank by quality of life, and some things that it takes into account that aren't specifically mentioned by the Economist ranking are quality of architecture, international connectivity, tolerance, and access to nature.
1. Munich, Germany
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Tokyo, Japan
5. Helsinki, Finland
6. Stockholm, Sweden
7. Paris, France
8. Vienna, Austria
9. Melbourne, Australia
10. Madrid, Spain
11. Berlin, Germany
12. Sydney, Australia
13. Honolulu, United States
14. Fukuoka, Japan
15. Geneva, Switzerland
16. Vancouver, Canada
17. Barcelona, Spain
18. Oslo, Norway
19. Montreal, Canada
20. Auckland, New Zealand
21. Singapore, Singapore
22. Portland, United States
23. Kyoto, Japan
24. Hamburg, Germany
25. Lisbon, Portugal
Most of the usual suspects from above show up and still it's a lot more spread all over the world. The cities from this list that I'be been to deserve to be on it, as far as I can tell. Then again, there are thousands of cities I haven't been to and that might deserve a spot
*MySmiley*
You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.
You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.
The world's top ten and worst ten most livable cities
- 30/08/2011 07:06:50 PM
1597 Views
How do you call towns "cities"?
- 30/08/2011 08:12:27 PM
857 Views
I thought you were going to mention Perth. The rest are clearly cities, if you ask me.
- 30/08/2011 08:23:33 PM
827 Views
Perth has 1.7 million people.
- 30/08/2011 08:30:26 PM
985 Views
A million people isn't a city?
- 30/08/2011 08:28:20 PM
988 Views
Not necessarily.
- 30/08/2011 10:49:08 PM
959 Views
Re: Not necessarily.
- 30/08/2011 11:56:20 PM
983 Views
to meet their definition of best it also seems to help if you have mostly white
- 31/08/2011 01:52:11 PM
848 Views
Have you been to Toronto or Vancouver ?
- 31/08/2011 04:02:01 PM
858 Views
no but I have the internet and they meet the ethnic description I gave
- 31/08/2011 05:25:40 PM
953 Views
Yeah, I'm sorry, but you're fairly off with that one.
- 31/08/2011 04:52:25 PM
908 Views
OK you did see where I included Asians didn't you and I would call less than 2% significant
- 31/08/2011 05:31:45 PM
895 Views
As a comparison ...
- 30/08/2011 08:37:28 PM
1013 Views
weather is a factor and three Canadian cities made the top ten?
- 30/08/2011 09:22:32 PM
991 Views
Vancouver at least has a nice climate.
- 30/08/2011 09:40:31 PM
1124 Views
yeah there are not vey many US cities I would want to raise kids in
- 30/08/2011 11:16:52 PM
806 Views
Quality health care in the US, really?
- 31/08/2011 12:27:41 AM
949 Views
Also,
- 31/08/2011 12:53:00 PM
954 Views
no it works out that nicely for most people
- 31/08/2011 01:36:13 PM
922 Views
Getting care, getting timely care, getting quality care and paying for it are all different things.
- 31/08/2011 03:39:30 PM
1122 Views
tha tis becuase the hospital is run by republicans and they were out to get you *NM*
- 31/08/2011 07:37:47 PM
615 Views
Livability obviously doesn't include "Concentration of Venomous Creatures". *NM*
- 30/08/2011 11:43:43 PM
462 Views
or perhaps Australian cities rank so high because they're so much better than the alternative
- 30/08/2011 11:58:47 PM
1022 Views
Actually, the reason our cities are so liveable is because they're built to keep said creatures out
- 31/08/2011 12:59:01 AM
822 Views
How?
- 31/08/2011 08:20:01 AM
820 Views
I can't risk putting the answer on a public forum, the venomous creatures may find out
- 01/09/2011 07:26:52 AM
763 Views
Why no Boston?
*NM*
- 31/08/2011 12:16:28 AM
444 Views
*NM*
- 31/08/2011 12:16:28 AM
444 Views
Annoyingness of local sports fans was also taken into consideration. *NM*
- 31/08/2011 12:31:21 AM
562 Views
Obviously the study group consists of Yankees fans. Poor, unfortunate souls.
*NM*
- 31/08/2011 12:46:17 AM
426 Views
*NM*
- 31/08/2011 12:46:17 AM
426 Views
A low population density seems to be a key determinant in these rankings
- 31/08/2011 12:51:45 AM
811 Views
There is an obvious mistake
- 31/08/2011 03:07:31 AM
1139 Views
- 31/08/2011 03:07:31 AM
1139 Views


