After three years at the pinnacle of global liveability, Vienna has slipped to a joint second place due to a notable drop in its stability rating. Despite receiving high marks in most other categories, the city’s stability score suffered a significant decrease. This downturn is largely linked to recent unsettling events, such as a bomb threat that resulted in the cancellation of a Taylor Swift concert last summer.
Barsali Bhattacharyya, the deputy industry director at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), remarked on the overall stagnation of global liveability scores in the past year, highlighting a general decline in stability ratings worldwide. As a result, Vienna’s loss of its top ranking serves as a reflection of the increasing pressures affecting urban stability, ending its three-year reign as the most liveable city in the world.