Wait.. What? Bengaluru Declared As Least Liveable City In India! Which Is The Best City To Live? (You Will Be Surprised)

Bengaluru, despite being one of the world’s fastest growing tech hubs, has been labeled the least livable among Indian cities on the livability index.

This index is compiled annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of The Economist Group.

The latest annual livability index report was released last week which ranks cities across the world on their ‘livability’ quotient or ease of living.

Indian cities

In India, New Delhi topped the livability index taking 140th place, with a livability score of 56.5.

This was followed by Mumbai at 141 (score 56.2), Chennai at 142 (score 55.8), Ahmedabad at 143 ( score 55.7) and Bengaluru at 146 (score 54.4).

The ideal score is 100.

If a city’s livability score is between 50-60 — as is the case with the Indian cities — then “liveability is substantially constrained”.

Earn more by living in unlivable city

The report noted that companies pay a premium to employees who move to cities where living conditions are particularly difficult.

The aggregator of the report has given a suggested allowance to correspond with the rating.

Employers should pay a 15 per cent extra allowance to employees for working in any of the Indian cities.

Indian cities’ performance

The report analysed living conditions in 173 cities across the world.

New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad were the only Indian cities on the list.

All were ranked between 140 and 146, which means they fell in the bottom quintile on the index.

Five parameters

Livability is judged on five broad parameters — stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Stability and culture and environment get the highest weightage — 25 per cent each.

Healthcare and infrastructure get a weightage of 20 per cent each.

Education has a weightage of 10 per cent in the ranking.

What happened with Bengaluru?

Bengaluru maintained pace with the other Indian cities when it comes to stability, healthcare, culture and environment and education.

However, it is the city’s infrastructure — or the lack thereof — where it lags behind, according to the report.

Infrastructure score is based on seven indicators — quality of roads, public transportation system, international links, energy provision, telecommunications, water and availability of good quality housing.

It received a score of 46.4 (out of 100) in infrastructure, the lowest among all Indian cities. 

Worse than Karachi, on par with Lagos

Meanwhile, Delhi scored the highest — 62.5 — followed by Mumbai, with a score of 55.4.

Both Chennai and Ahmedabad received a score of 50 each.

Even Karachi in Pakistan, which is ranked amongst the five least liveable cities in the world in the index, scored better than Bengaluru on the infrastructure parameter— 51.8.

Bengaluru’s infrastructure score is comparable to that of Lagos in Nigeria — which also scored 46.4 — the third least livable city in the world.

Stability

Coming to the stability parameter, Ahmedabad scored the highest, 65 out of a total of 100.

Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai scored 60 each, while Delhi scored the least — 50.

Stability is measured by the prevalence of petty crimes, violent crimes, threat of terror, military conflict and civil unrest.

Culture and environment

Coming to the ‘culture and environment’ parameter, Ahmedabad scored the least, 44.4 (out of a total of 100), while Mumbai scored the highest among Indian cities, 50.7.

Delhi scored 48.6, followed by Bengaluru 47.2 and Chennai 46.5.

It was measured based on nine indicators, ranging from weather to corruption, social and religious restrictions, sporting availability, culture and ratings on food and drink and consumer goods and services.

Healthcare

Coming to the healthcare parameter, Chennai, Delhi and Bengaluru scored 58.3 each (out of a total of 100).

Mumbai and Ahmedabad score 54.2 each.

This parameter measured the quality of public and private healthcare infrastructure, along with availability of medicines.

Education

Coming to education, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru scored 75 each, while both Mumbai and Ahmedabad scored 66.7.

It is calculated on the basis of availability of private education and its quality and public education indicators.

World rankings

Worldwide, Vienna in Austria topped the EIU rankings mostly for its stability and good infrastructure.

Western European and Canadian cities dominated the top positions.

Copenhagen, Denmark is in second place and Zurich, Switzerland, and Calgary, Canada in third place.

Syrian capital Damascus is the least livable city in the world.