Dublin has plummeted down a prestigious global table of liveable cities – the third biggest drop among any country.
Vienna is the world’s most liveable city for a third consecutive year, while Dublin is 39th, according to a new survey from The Economist.
Dublin dropped seven places from its position in 32nd place in 2023.
The survey noted “disruptive protests” in Dublin as a factor. Last November, angry protesters broken into shops and set a bus, a Luas and Garda cars on a night of violence in the city centre.
The Global Liveability Index assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions.
The liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle in any given location and allows for direct comparison between locations.
Every city is assigned a rating of relative comfort for more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
Vienna received full marks in terms of its stability, health care, education and infrastructure.
While Dublin’s was the third biggest drop among any country, Tel Aviv in Israel fell 20 places to 112th.
Vienna was followed by the Danish capital Copenhagen, Zurich in Switzerland, Melbourne in Australia and Calgary in Canada.
The survey found Western Europe remains the most liveable region in the world.
It noted, however: “The region’s overall score has slipped since last year, owing to a deterioration in the stability category, amid increasing instances of disruptive protests (such as in Germany, Ireland and Belgium) and crime.
“North America scores an average of 90.5 for its 25 cities, but infrastructure scores have fallen since last year in Canada, owing to an ongoing housing crisis.”
Other issues highlighted included the rise of far-right extremism, EU agricultural policy and anti-immigration.
It stated that overall global liveability was up slightly over the past year, but added the “improvement is only marginal, held back by geopolitical conflicts, civil unrest and a housing crisis across many of the cities” amid inflation, and continuing stress on liveability was “unlikely to ease in the near future”.
Damascus, the capital of war-torn Syria, was again ranked the least liveable city.
Kyiv was also in the bottom 10 in the rankings as the Ukraine war rages on following the Russian invasion in 2022.
