The 10 most livable cities in the world in 2025
Copenhagen just took the crown as the world's most livable city.
The Danish capital knocked Vienna off its throne after three years at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) most livable cities rankings.
The EIU's 2025 index, released Tuesday, scored 173 cities across five main categories: Stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Copenhagen earned a perfect score of 100 for stability, education and infrastructure, further cementing Western Europe's grip on the top of the rankings. Vienna, along with Zurich and Geneva, also landed in the top five.
Three Australian cities — Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide — cracked the top ten, joined by nearby Auckland, New Zealand. Vancouver in Canada was the lone North American city to make the cut, coming in at No. 10.
Overall, global livability remained flat over the past year, with an average city score of 76.1 out of 100.
Stability scores continued to decline amid geopolitical tensions, but the report noted those losses were offset by modest gains in health care, education and infrastructure.
Honolulu was the highest-ranked U.S. city on the list, coming in No. 23, followed by Atlanta at No. 29.
Smaller cities tend to perform well on the index due to lower crime levels and fewer terrorism threats. New York City ranked 69th, for example.
Miami and Portland, Oregon, tied for 44th — up three spots from last year. Charlotte, N.C. and Indianapolis also climbed three places, landing at 50th.
Declining health care scores for the four Canadian cities included in the index helped drag down the overall average for North America compared to a year ago — a regional dip that researchers said could continue.
'With the Trump administration in the U.S. proposing to cut public spending on education and health care, the region remains susceptible to further downgrades in future editions,' researchers wrote in the report.
On the other end of the rankings, Damascus, Syria, was ranked the world's least livable city, scoring particularly low for stability and health care.
Tripoli, Lybia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Karachi, Pakistan and Algiers, Algeria, also ranked in the bottom five.
These are the 10 most livable cities in 2025.
Downtown skyline in Vancouver, Canada. (Getty Images)
The skyline of Adelaide. Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa (Photo by Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The skyline of Auckland. Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa (Photo by Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Tourists take photos in Shinsekai with Tsutenkaku tower in sight in Osaka, Japan, on December 12, 2024. Shinsekai, which means 'New World' in Japanese, is an old neighborhood located in a downtown area in the southern part of Osaka City and is famous for Tsutenkaku tower. (Photo by Kichul Shin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Sydney Opera House and Sydney city center skyscrapers. (Photo by: Martin Berry/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
A general view of the city center of Geneva, the second largest city in Switzerland, which attracts tourists with its historical structure and tranquility, on April 24, 2025. (Photo by Hamza Onder Kuloglu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Rowers make their way along the Maribyrnong River towards the Melbourne skyline in the early morning light on April 18, 2023. – Melbourne has officially become Australia's most populous city after an adjustment to the city boundaries which saw its population jump to 4,875,400, almost 19,000 more than Sydney, according to Australia's Bureau of Statistics. (Photo by William WEST / AFP) (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
A small police motor boat travels on the Limmat river, which church spires to the rear, in central Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by: Andy Soloman/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Trams pass the State Opera House on Ringstrasse, Vienna, Austria. (Photo by: Andrew Michael/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – AUGUST 25: People paddle their stand-up paddleboards at Fisketorvet harbour bath in Copenhagen, Denmark, on August 25, 2022. On hot days, Copenhageners swim with the city's skyline in free view. During the week, many locals pass the pool for a quick dip on their way home from work. Harbour baths are very popular among both locals and visitors. (Photo by SERGEI GAPON/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Amazon's Zoox Opens Robotaxi Production Site in California
(Bloomberg) -- Inc.'s Zoox autonomous driving unit opened a robotaxi production facility in California in the latest move by a deep-pocketed tech company to expand the nascent industry. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown The site in the San Francisco Bay area city of Hayward will be able to churn out 10,000 purpose-built robotaxis a year once it reaches full scale, Zoox said in a statement on Wednesday. The company expects the plant will create hundreds of jobs in the region as it grows. 'The reality is we are just ready,' Zoox Chief Executive Officer Aicha Evans said in an interview on Bloomberg Tech on Wednesday. The strategy is to start 'putting the capacity in place and then turning it on little by little as we go city by city' with commercial launches, she said. Zoox is one of several companies vying to secure a foothold in the market for autonomous ridehailing. Competitors include Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo unit and Tesla Inc., which plans to begin offering rides in Austin with no driver behind the wheel as early as Sunday. The Amazon-owned company's purpose-built robotaxi is akin to a shuttle and has no steering wheel or pedals, with four inward-facing seats. Zoox would need an exemption from US auto safety rules that require vehicles to have driver controls, though the Trump administration has said it's working on changes to provide those approvals faster. Zoox is 'very grateful' to the administration's work in preparing the US for robotaxis and talks with regulatory bodies are 'going well', Evans said. Zoox is testing or operating robotaxis on a limited basis in San Fransisco and Las Vegas, where it plans to launch its service. Waymo, which uses vehicles made by other automakers that it rigs with self-driving software and sensors, is seen as the market leader and charges fares for rides in multiple US markets. To start, Zoox has a dozen of its robotaxis driving on the Las Vegas Strip, Evans said. The commercial service will launch later in the year and pricing will be competitive with traditional ride-hailing services. (Updates with Bloomberg Television interview starting in the third paragraph.) Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Urges SALT Deal as Lawler Stands Firm on $40,000 Cap
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump expressed optimism that lawmakers could reach a compromise on the state and local tax deduction — a sticking point in his 'One Big Beautiful Bill' — even as a key SALT advocate insisted a deal had already been reached. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown Trump said Wednesday that resolving the contentious debate over the SALT cap is imperative to passing his multitrillion dollar tax bill. 'It's very difficult, and I understand both sides, but we'll just have to see, hopefully a compromise or something's going to be made,' Trump told reporters at the White House. New York Representative Mike Lawler — one of the House's most vocal supporters of the SALT deduction — said earlier Wednesday he is open to negotiating with the Senate to advance the tax bill, but insisted he would not agree to lower the $40,000 SALT cap deal reached in the House. 'We negotiated,' Lawler said Wednesday in an interview with Fox Business of the House version of the bill. 'That's the deal.' The SALT deduction has been a primary sticking point holding up Trump's legislative agenda. Lawler, one of a handful of Republicans representing districts in high tax states, previously called the Senate version of the tax bill 'dead on arrival' because of its $10,000 cap on SALT. Senate leaders have characterized that figure as a placeholder while negotiations have continued, but have also said there is no desire among Republicans in their chamber to keep the cap at $40,000. GOP Senators are considering a $30,000 cap on SALT as a compromise between the $10,000 currently allowed and the more generous limit in the House tax bill. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is scheduled to meet with Senate Republicans on Wednesday to discuss the tax bill, according to a person familiar with the planning. Vice President JD Vance met with senators on Tuesday to urge them to support the legislation. The House and Senate have to agree on a plan before it can go to Trump's desk to become law, giving Lawler and his SALT-focused colleagues leverage to demand their concerns be addressed. Trump warned that making SALT a 'red line' would mean a tax increase. The bill renews many of his first-term tax cuts on households and small businesses, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Instead of agreeing that the SALT cap could be lowered, Lawler listed off costly items in the bill, including the child tax credit and cutting taxes on tips and overtime, that could be negotiated. 'We're not giving you the full boat,' Lawler said. 'I have negotiated in good faith from day one, and I am still willing to work with my colleagues to get this done, but we are not going to be fleeced in New York.' There are other variables that could be negotiated besides the cap amount, including length of time it is in place and the phase out for higher income taxpayers. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republican colleagues in the chamber for seeking to minimize the SALT deduction, calling that move a 'a dagger aimed at the heart of blue states.' —With assistance from Erik Wasson and Cam Kettles. (Adds Wiles plan to meet with senators on Wednesday) Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
5 minutes ago
Juneteenth festival organizers focus on 'resilience' amid attacks on DEI initiatives
Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday in 2021 to recommit to "equity, equality, and justice," but this year the holiday comes amid a new political environment marked by a slew of Trump administration federal regulations against diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The holiday commemorates the June 19, 1865, emancipation of the last African American enslaved people in Texas in the wake of the Civil War. Organizers of Juneteenth celebrations across the country told ABC News that President Donald Trump's push against DEI policies has led to some disturbances in planned festivities -- some of which took place last weekend and others that are scheduled to be held on Thursday and over the coming weekend. Maliya Smith, whose family has been organizing a Juneteenth festival in San Diego for years, told ABC News that the National Endowment for the Arts, which has faced funding cuts under the Trump administration, initially granted her family's foundation, The Cooper Family Foundation. The foundation, which puts on the festival, was to receive a $25,000 grant for the 2025 fiscal year, as they have secured for past celebrations. However, following the Trump administration's new anti-DEI regulations in February, they were notified in an email that they will no longer be receiving the grant, Smith said. "Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the administration's agenda. Your project, as noted, although, unfortunately, does not align with these properties," the email said, according to Smith. Norman Harris, executive director of Juneteenth Music Festival Corporation in Denver, Colorado, has been organizing Juneteenth festivals for over a decade but said that this year has been the "most challenging" because 12 major corporate sponsors, who had backed the festival in the past, pulled their support over the past couple of months. Asked if the companies provided a rationale for pulling out, Harris said they did not elaborate, but the loss of support came at the last minute and organizers they didn't have time to 'have those conversations.' "What it made us do was to figure out on the fly, you know, how we were going to sustain this year's celebration," Harris told ABC News. "So what we decided on was that we'd have to shorten the normal two day street festival to one day." The president's executive orders against DEI target both the public and the private sector. Several legal experts who advise companies and institutions regarding their DEI policies previously told ABC News that while the Trump administration doesn't have the legal authority to mandate that private businesses abandon those policies, the executive order's language uses the threat of potential legal action against certain companies to discourage those practices. "The current administration has made it very clear in as many ways as it could that it's no longer friendly to the idea that the country should continue to mark the racial history of the past as something affecting the present. They kind of want to wipe the history away and start from scratch," Jeremy Paul, a constitutional law professor at Northeastern University, told ABC News. The president said in a March 27 executive order targeting the teaching of American history in cultural institutions that depictions of the U.S. as "inherently racist" are "divisive" and called on the institutions to instead "focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people." "The expressed position of the current administration is very hostile to what they would call DEI or woke events, and certainly, Juneteenth is part of the effort on the part of the country to acknowledge the terrible legacy of slavery," Paul said. Smith's family, which organizes the San Diego Juneteenth celebration, has been celebrating Juneteenth for decades, but she said that this year has been different because they have had to "navigate this new world" and "adapt" to the new regulations. Smith said that this year's Juneteenth "healing" festival will still go on as planned this weekend because the family has been "blessed" to receive enough support from the community, but she expressed concern over fundraising in the coming years. "Next year we don't know how that's going to look because funding is looking different," she said. "We're going to have to figure out how to scale back even more." According to Paul, while there is "no obligation" for the White House, states, cities or companies to celebrate Juneteenth, these federal policies have no impact on its status as a federal holiday. "This was established by statute, meaning Congress voted for it, and President Biden signed it," Paul said. "And that's not changing. There will be no mail that day. Federal offices will be closed."Harris said that while he was "disappointed" that the loss of sponsors led to the scaling back of the Denver festival this year, the spirit of Juneteenth has reminded him of the power of "resilience." "Some of the challenges that African American communities have had decades past, centuries past, which resilience has been the common denominator -- that's helped us overcome the challenges," he said, adding that it has been an "honor" for him to help bring the celebration to the city each year. Smith echoed this notion, saying that "our tradition is still the same." "It's still going to be a Juneteenth Celebration for the community," she said, "and it's still going to be on a scale that is helping and educating and empowering the community."
