Dhaka has become the second worst liveable city in the world, improving on last year’s most unliveable city status.
The Global Liveability Ranking done by The Economist’s intelligence unit revealed the findings on Tuesday.
Out of 140 cities, the capital of Bangladesh secured the second last position with of 38.7 points on a scale of 100.
Syria’s Damascus has become this year’s worst liveable city with a score of 29.3.
Australia’s Melbourne, meanwhile, topped the rankings with 97.5 points, claiming the spot for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Austria’s Vienna and Canada’s Vancouver.
The content in the report has been derived from extensive economic, financial, political and business risk analysis of over 203 countries.
Although it is usually the top cities that warrant the most attention, the latest findings of marked an increase in global instability over the last 12 months, the report says.
The ranking, which provides scores for lifestyle challenges in 140 cities worldwide, shows that since 2010, average liveability across the world has fallen by 1%, prompted by a 2.2% fall in the score for stability and safety.
“The threat to personal safety, whether in the form of crime, unrest or conflict, has knock on implications for other aspects of liveability,” it added.
The report said that civil unrest, acts of terror and violence have triggered stability declines around the world. High profile terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia and the ongoing actions of Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East have created a further heightened threat of terrorism in many countries.
Meanwhile, protests over matters like police brutality, democracy and austerity have also raised the threat of civil unrest in many countries.
While this may seem marginal, the report highlights that 57 of the cities surveyed have seen decline in liveability over the last five years. Incidences of terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia have been compounded by civil unrest in the US and ongoing conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Libya.
The report also listed the top 10 cities that have improved their living conditions over the last five years. Kathmandu is the only South Asian country in the improved liveability index.
The liveability score is reached through 30 indicators under five categories. Some of the major indicators are prevalence of crime, terror, militancy, civil unrest, quality of healthcare, environment, corruption, transport and energy situation.
