Dubai and Abu Dhabi rise in list of most liveable cities as Tel Aviv slumps

Gulf cities improve ranking with gains in education and health care, annual index finds

Capital Park in central Abu Dhabi. UAE cities climbed the rankings for liveability worldwide. Victor Besa / The National

Gulf cities including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah have risen in the rankings of the world's most liveable cities, while Tel Aviv registered the sharpest drop on the list due to the war in Gaza.

Sustained investment in health and education was a significant factor for the strong performance of the UAE cities, with both Abu Dhabi and Dubai rising two spots from last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit said in its Global Liveability Index 2024, released on Thursday.

“This year, Dubai has joined Abu Dhabi in achieving the highest tier of liveability in our index [a score of 80 or above out of 100],” said Barsali Bhattacharyya, deputy industry director at EIU.

“Both cities score highly on stability, infrastructure and education and have seen steady improvements in overall ratings over the past few years.”

Saudi cities have also seen “strong investment in domestic infrastructure, education and health in order to become more attractive to foreign tourists and expatriates, and diversify their economies”, she said.

Meanwhile, Israel's Tel Aviv dropped 20 places from last year to 112th, as the Gaza war continues to weigh heavily on liveability.

Vienna was named the world's most liveable city for a third year, scoring 98.4 out of 100, among the 173 cities ranked on the index on 30 indicators measuring stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

It was followed by Copenhagen with a score of 98 and Zurich with 97.1.

Syria's capital, Damascus, retained its ranking as the least comfortable city in the world, with a score of 30.7, with results for stability and health care “particularly poor”. Libya's Tripoli was ranked the next worst city with a score of 40.1, followed by Algiers with 42.

Overall, the average score across the 173 cities in the survey increased marginally to 76.1 out of 100.

“Geopolitical conflicts, civil unrest and a housing crisis across many of the cities” have been affecting liveability globally, EIU said.

Mena a 'mixed bag'

The Mena region presents a “mixed bag”, with some cities recording strong growth on the index, while others fell or remained low.

The biggest increase in scores was registered by the cities in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar).

Abu Dhabi was the highest ranked in the Mena region, placed 76th globally, up two spots from last year, with a score of 81.7 out of 100. It was followed by Dubai, which ranked 78 globally, also up two spots from the 2023 index, scoring 80.8.

“Health care has been a policy and investment priority in the UAE in recent years to improve general population health, as well as reduce outbound medical tourism, and public healthcare spending is likely to keep increasing over the next five years," Ms Bhattacharyya said.

Partnerships with global educational institutions, as well as an increasing number of international schools with different curriculums, also helped boost the education ratings, she added.

Kuwait City in the 93rd position globally, Doha (101st) and Bahrain's Manama (106th) rounded off the regional top five.

The GCC region has been investing heavily in social infrastructure along with its focus on economic diversification.

The region's economic growth is forecast to strengthen to 2.8 per cent in 2024 and 4.7 per cent in 2025, the World Bank said this month.

Last month, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were also ranked among the top five most popular destinations for professionals to relocate to, according to a report by management consultancy Boston Consulting Group.

People primarily choose a destination based on the quality of job opportunities there, followed by quality of life and factors related to income, the Dream Destinations and Mobility Trends report found.

Meanwhile, Tel Aviv dropped “as its scores for stability, culture and environment, and infrastructure deteriorated”, the EIU report said.

“This points to the damage inflicted by the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, and the subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel is under pressure to declare a ceasefire in Gaza, but is likely to continue its campaign there in some form during 2024,” it said.

Israel's economy grew 2 per cent in 2023 even though it shrank by an annualised 19.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, according to official data.

It is expected to expand by about 2 per cent this year, depending on how long the war extends.

Liveability 'under pressure'

While the conflict in the Middle East has pulled Tel Aviv down the rankings, the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine has led to Kyiv remaining among the bottom 10 cities, EIU said.

“An increasing incidence of protests in Europe around causes ranging from agriculture to immigration policies has damaged the stability scores of cities in the region,” it said.

The cost-of-living crisis is also dragging on in many countries, with housing costs emerging as one of the stickiest elements of inflation.

The situation is “particularly worrying in Australia and Canada”, where the availability of rental properties is at an all-time low and prices have continued to rise despite interest-rate increases, “further fuelling anti-immigration sentiment”, EIU said.

“Global liveability has risen fractionally over the past year but risks to stability remain,” Ms Bhattacharyya said.

“Dissatisfaction with government policies ranging from agriculture to immigration have accompanied rising polarisation in many countries as a record number of the world’s population vote in national elections.”

She said that growing instances of civil unrest and demonstrations around the world, including riots in Noumea in New Caledonia and campus protests across the US suggest “continuing stress on liveability that is unlikely to ease in the near future”.