Security concerns hit some of the world's ‘most liveable cities'
Copenhagen rose to first place in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2025 Global Livability Index. PHOTO: REUTERS
Security concerns hit some of the world's 'most liveable cities'
- Copenhagen rose to first place in a global liveabilit y ranking, after security concerns nudged down other cities in Western Europe.
Austria's capital, Vienna, lost its top spot as the world's most liveable city due to recent terrorism scares, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2025 Global Livability Index.
A bomb threat ahead of pop star Taylor Swift's concerts in 2024 and the uncovering of a planned attack on a city train station earlier in 2025 caused a sharp drop in the city's stability score, the report said.
Copenhagen had the same score as 2024, but has been largely untouched by the unrest affecting its regional peers, scoring the maximum points for stability, along with top marks in education and infrastructure.
The Economist's annual ranking is just one narrow way of defining 'liveability,' and has been criticised for omitting environmental health factors.
Such rankings also reduce cities down to data points that obscure individual preferences – and demographic differences in how people experience a place.
In Copenhagen's home country of Denmark, for example, the government has enacted a law that designates neighbourhoods with more than 50 per cent non-western residents as 'ghettos' that can be subject to demolition; the law was recently deemed discriminatory by an adviser to the European Union's top court.
Still, the rankings can be effective at pointing to trends.
Western Europe's average score for stability declined from 2024 as the region grappled with a rise in terrorism threats, riots, crime and anti-Semitic attacks, and the region accounted for six of the ten biggest fallers in the ranking.
These included British cities of London, Manchester and Edinburgh following violent far-right protests in 2024.
Canadian cities Calgary and Toronto were also among the biggest decliners, as strains in the country's national health service took a toll. Vancouver is now the only Canadian city remaining in the top ten.
Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia recorded the biggest improvement, climbing to 135th place, driven by the kingdom's investments in expanding access to healthcare and education.
At the other end of the scale, Damascus in Syria remains in the last place. Its liveability score was unchanged due to ongoing instability and poor health care, despite a regime change in 2024.
The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks 173 cities based on five categories: stability, education, infrastructure, culture and environment, and healthcare. BLOOMBERG
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
16 minutes ago
- Straits Times
China, Central Asian countries agree better connectivity by land, flights
Chinese President Xi Jinping (third from left) signed a treaty to elevate ties with Central Asian nations on June 17. PHOTO: REUTERS BEIJING - China and Central Asian countries are willing to improve road and railway connectivity, and will look to open more direct flights to and from China as they agreed to enhance exchanges, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on June 18. China will look at simplifying visa procedures with the five Central Asian countries while all parties will study the feasibility of opening consular offices, it added. China, together with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, will also accelerate the modernisation of existing port facilities and look at the need for new ports. Chinese President Xi Jinping signed on June 17 a treaty to elevate ties with Central Asian nations as Beijing looks to further deepen cooperation on trade, energy and infrastructure with the resource-rich region. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
16 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Viasat identified as victim in Chinese Salt Typhoon cyberespionage, Bloomberg News reports
FILE PHOTO: Satellite model is placed on Viasat logo in this picture illustration taken April 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Viasat Inc has been identified as a victim of the Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon cyberespionage operation during last year's presidential campaign, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. The breach at the satellite communications firm was discovered earlier this year and Viasat has been working with the government in the aftermath, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Viasat and its independent third-party cybersecurity partner investigated unauthorized access through a compromised device but found no evidence of customer impact, the company said in a statement. "Viasat believes that the incident has been remediated and has not detected any recent activity related to this event," the company said, adding that it was engaged with the government as part of its investigation. U.S. officials have previously alleged that hackers targeted telecom companies such as Verizon, AT&T, Lumen, and others, stealing telephone audio intercepts along with a significant amount of call record data. In December, the officials added a ninth unnamed telecom company to the list of entities compromised by the Salt Typhoon hackers and said that the Chinese operatives gained access to networks with broad and full access, enabling them to "geolocate millions of individuals, to record phone calls at will". Targets of Salt Typhoon reportedly included officials connected to the presidential campaigns of both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. Chinese officials have previously dismissed the allegations as disinformation, asserting that Beijing "firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms". REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
US Senate passes stablecoin Bill in win for crypto industry, Trump
The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar, in a landmark win for the ascendant crypto industry and President Donald Trump. The 68-30 vote on June 17 evening marked a rare moment of bipartisanship in the deeply divided Senate, despite Republicans blocking Democratic efforts to bar Trump from profiting from his many crypto ventures while in office. A Trump-affiliated stablecoin already has a US$2 billion (S$2.6 billion) market value. The House has been pursuing its own legislation, including a more sweeping measure to regulate the broader crypto market. House lawmakers must now decide whether to take up the Senate Bill or negotiate a compromise measure. The stablecoin vote, years in the making, is the crypto industry's most tangible return yet on the hundreds of millions of dollars it poured into electing a crypto-friendly Congress. Crypto titans who flooded money into the 2024 election with the best-funded alliance of corporate political action committees in US history have similar plans for the 2026 midterm elections. Dollar-pegged stablecoins would have to hold dollar-for-dollar reserves in short-term government debt or similar products overseen by state or federal regulators. Industry backers hope the legislation will turn stablecoins into a mainstream form of payment. Retailers had signed on to the bill with the idea that they can provide a cheaper, faster way to process transactions than traditional banking products like credit cards and checks. Banks, especially smaller ones, have warned about a potential drain on deposits and reduced access to credit. Larger banks are considering issuing their own stablecoins, which generate profits from interest on the reserves. Stablecoins are already a lucrative business, with leading issuer Tether Holdings SA earning billions on its reserves. Technology companies and other large non-financial businesses could also issue their own stablecoins if the Bill becomes law, potentially upending a longstanding separating of finance and business. Various efforts to amend the measure on the Senate floor failed, including amendments targeting Mr Trump, credit card competition, consumer protections and the threat of future government bailouts of stablecoins, which would not be protected by federal deposit insurance. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, has told Bloomberg he expects to hold a hearing on a broader crypto market structure Bill in July, but does not anticipate passing it in the Senate until the fall. Backers, including the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have touted dollar-pegged stablecoins for their potential to increase demand for dollars and US debt globally. Several Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren argued that the stablecoin bill doesn't do enough to protect consumers and the financial system if issuers fail, leaving customers vulnerable to losing their money and fueling demands for taxpayer bailouts. They also take a dim view of advancing legislation that would not bar Mr Trump's crypto profiteering. Senator Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican and his party's lead sponsor of the measure, said he'd spoken with Mr Trump and that he was looking forward to getting the legislation on his desk 'in very short order'. The senator added that he hoped the House passes the Bill 'as quickly as they possibly can.' BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
