{UAH} KAMPALA RANKED AMONG 10 WORLD'S BEST LIVABLE CITIES

Douala ranked among 10 world’s worst livable cities

(CamroonJournal), Yaounde,

 

Douala, Cameroon’s most populated city and the bread basket of the country has been ranked among the bottom 10 on the 2013 list of World’s most livable cities compiled annually by the Intelligence Unit of the London based business and political weekly magazine, The Economist.

 

In fact, half of the bottom 10 cities are in Africa: Douala, Cameroon; Tripoli, Libya; Algiers, Algeria; Harare, Zimbabwe and Lagos, Nigeria.

Every city of the 140 studied was assigned a rating of relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.

 

Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. For qualitative indicators, a rating was awarded based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors. For quantitative indicators, a rating was calculated based on the relative performance of a number of external data points.

 

The scores were then compiled and weighted to provide a score of 1–100, where 1 is considered intolerable and 100 is considered ideal. The livability rating is provided both as an overall score and as a score for each category.

 

In this regard, Douala scored a 60 per cent rate in stability, 25 in healthcare, 45.6 in culture and environment, 33.3 in education and 42.9 in infrastructure. This gave an overall rating of 45.8, meaning that most aspects of living are severely restricted, according to the report.

 

Melbourne, capital of Victoria state and second largest Australian city, a financial and commercial centre remains the most livable location of the 140 cities surveyed, followed by the Austrian capital, Vienna.

 

Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary are third, fourth and fifth, respectively, on the list. That’s also where they stood last year.

 

Melbourne has been the top city on the livability list since 2011, when it squeezed out Vancouver. Toronto and Calgary have traditionally been in the top five as well.

 

Eight of the top 10 cities are in Canada and Australia. The Economist, points out, reflects them being mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with relatively low population density and good healthcare and education. The other cities on the top 10 list, from fifth through ninth, are Adelaide, Sydney, Helsinki and Perth.

 

Damascus, Syria’s capital, ranks dead last because of the civil war tearing apart the country. Damascus also registered the biggest decline in livability over the last five years, by more than 20 per cent.

 

           Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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