Vancouver Best City, Calgary/Toronto tied
by MaxPower
The Economist Intelligence Unit (sister publication of the Economist, better known as the best magazine on the planet), came out with a 2007 update to its Global "Livability Rankings", which basically measures the best cities on earth to live in.
The list is linked here:
Top 10
Vancouver, Melbourne, Vienna, Geneva, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Zurich, Toronto, Calgary
They don't show the exact rankings but I have that edition of the Economist which the list was published. Vancouver was number 1 while Toronto and Calgary were tied for 5th or 6th (I forget which). Basically those top 10 cities were all separated by a few points in the survey. Interestingly, the Economist pointed out that most of those cities would be considered "dull and homely" with the exception of Calgary and Sydney, which must stick in the craw of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal (placed just out of the top 10). But there is something to be said about a "dull" city when it comes to liveability. Another interesting point is the countries that make up the top 10, Canada, Australia, Austria, Swizterland, Australia, Australia, Swizterland, Canada, Canada...
And bottom 10?
Tehran, Douala, Harare, Abidjan, Phnom Penh, Lagos, Karachi, Dhaka, Algiers, Port Moresby