Copenhagen just won’t let go of the top spot. Copenhagen is regarded as the first most liveable city in the world for the second consecutive year by the Economist Intelligence Unit which published its report entitled “Global Liveability Index 2026“. If you are looking for Karachi then please take a deep breath as it stood at the 170th position out of 173 cities. Barely moved.
Global Liveability Index 2026
The index is compiled in this way: the researchers of EIU evaluate more than 30 factors divided into five categories: stability, health care, education, infrastructure, and culture and environment for 173 cities. Apart from being ranked better than all other cities, Copenhagen received perfect scores in three of the following categories. Vienna could maintain supremacy in rankings for three consecutive years ranging from 2022 to 2024, but is now second best. Melbourne grabbed third. Indeed, Sydney has risen by two spots to occupy the fourth place, which is more progress than that made by many cities in ten years of these rankings.
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Zurich and Geneva occupy the positions five and six respectively; both Swiss cities have slightly dropped down in the list due to lower culture and environment scores. There is also Osaka, occupying the seventh position, being the best Asian city ranked in the list. Adelaide followed right behind at eighth. Vancouver still the only North American city anywhere near this end of the table climbed one place to ninth.
World’s Most Livable Cities 2026
Tokyo rounds things off at 10, helped along by better scores on the culture and environment side. Now, back to Karachi. Pakistan’s lone entry in the whole index inched up from a score of 42.7 to 43 out of 100. That’s it. That’s the improvement. Not nearly enough to shift the ranking even one place.
Dhaka’s right below at 171. Tripoli’s after that, at 172. And Damascus for a second consecutive year holds the title nobody wants: least liveable city in the world.
The real turbulence this year came out of the Middle East. War involving Iran, Israel and the US broke out in February 2026 and spiralled fast strikes across the Gulf, a blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, the whole region rattled. EIU’s own report says the 18 MENA cities it tracks dropped more than three places on average because of it. Tehran took a especially hard hit, falling to 164 and landing in the bottom ten for the first time ever.
But nobody got hit worse than Muscat. Oman’s capital fell a staggering 14 places, down to 123 the single biggest drop anywhere in this year’s index. Kuwait City wasn’t spared either, sliding 12 spots to 105.
So where does that leave Karachi? Pretty much where it’s always been. A tiny bump in score, no real change in standing, and the same old culprits dragging it down patchy infrastructure, safety concerns, public services that never quite catch up. Since no other Pakistani city even makes the cut, this ranking is basically the only window the rest of the world gets into what urban life actually looks like here. And right now, that window hasn’t changed much at all.
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