Harare and Lagos ranked as the world’s worst cities to live in
African cities don’t perform well in a new Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranking of the world’s best cities to live in.
Johannesburg is the African city that scored the highest in the rankings.
Six African cities feature in the bottom ten of the rankings, with Zimbabwe’s capital Harare the worst performer. Johannesburg, in 40th position from a total of 70 cities included in the rankings, scored the highest of all African cities.
The new ranking builds on EIU’s Liveability index by including an additional category, Spatial Characteristics, to the existing five categories – Stability, Healthcare, Culture and Environment, Education and Infrastructure. This new category seeks to account for the spatial aspects of city life: urban form (sprawl, green space), the geographical situation of the city (natural assets, isolation and connectivity), cultural assets and pollution.
Best cities ranking – Africa| City | Overall rank (out of a total of 70 cities) |
|---|---|
| Johannesburg | 40 |
| Casablanca | 53 |
| Cairo | 55 |
| Nairobi | 62 |
| Lusaka | 63 |
| Dakar | 66 |
| Abidjan | 67 |
| Lagos | 69 |
| Harare | 70 |
Globally Hong Kong is the top ranked city. Although Hong Kong scored relatively poorly for pollution and cultural assets, the city benefited from strong scores in the natural assets and sprawl categories.