The 20 Best Cities To Live In The World, According To A 2025 Report
Copenhagen tops the 2025 Global Liveability Index, making it the best city to live in the world.
What are the best cities to live in the world? Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) sets out to answer that question with its highly anticipated Global Liveability Index, which was just released.
The 2025 edition evaluates 173 cities using 30 indicators across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Each city is then given a score out of 100 points, which assesses how comfortable it is to live there.
For the first time since 2022—when I began covering the EIU's Global Liveability report—Vienna has lost the top spot.
This year, the best city to live in the world is Copenhagen, Denmark. According to the EIU, Copenhagen got perfect scores of 100 in three categories: stability, education and infrastructure. The performance helped it earn a score of 98, edging out Vienna, which scored 97.1. Copenhagen came in second place in both 2024 and 2023.
What hurt Vienna? According to the EIU, terrorism scares in 2024 and 2025, caused the city to dip in the stability category. These incidents included a bomb threat that canceled Taylor Swift's summer 2024 concerts and a foiled attack on a train station in early 2025.
This year, Vienna ties with Zurich for second place. Zurich was third on the list in 2024 and sixth on the list in 2023.
Vienna, Austria is the second best city to live in the world, according to the 2025 Global Liveability Index.
Western Europe continues to dominate the list with eight cities in the top 20, plus high scores overall. 'Western Europe remains the best-performing region for liveability, having achieved the top scores in four of the five categories,' wrote the authors of the report.
The Asia-Pacific region also does well, with nine cities in the top 20 list—though it also has the widest range, with cities high and low on the list. 'Its most liveable city, Melbourne (Australia), came fourth in the rankings this year, while its least liveable, Dhaka (Bangladesh), came 171st (down three places following the political upheaval in the country in 2024),' wrote the authors of the report.
At the bottom of the list is Damascus, Syria, which is once again named the least liveable city in the world. 'Despite last year's regime change, Syria's capital city continues to be scarred by years of civil war and has seen no improvement in liveability,' wrote the authors of the report.
The U.S. may have been shut out of the global top 20 again, but that doesn't mean it's all bad news. Honolulu, Hawaii is the top-ranking city for the second year in a row. The city ranks number 23 in the overall list. In second place is Atlanta, Georgia (which ranks 29 overall). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (30 overall), Seattle, Washington (34 overall), and Washington, D.C. (38 overall) rounded out the top five list.
Honolulu ranks as the most liveable city in the U.S. in 2025, landing at #23 in the global rankings.
U.S. cities perform well in education, getting the highest scores for any region in the world. But the U.S. is hurt by social unrest and gun violence. 'Weak gun-control laws mean that crime is often violent and fatal and undermines social cohesion,' wrote the authors of the report.
There is some good news for the U.S.: 14 U.S. cities have moved up the list, including Miami—which went from 47 last year to 44 in this year's overall list. The south Florida city ties with Portland, Oregon for sixth place in the list of top U.S. cities.
'Fourteen of the 21 U.S. cities in our index moved up this year, but mostly because other cities fell,' wrote the authors of the report.
When it comes to the biggest cities in the U.S., the results were less impressive: New York ranks 69 overall and Los Angeles comes in at 57. These cities have strong cultural offerings but struggle with poor scores in infrastructure and stability.
Looking ahead, the EIU anticipates challenges for the U.S. 'With the Trump administration in the U.S. proposing to cut public spending on education and healthcare, the region remains susceptible to further downgrades in future editions of this report' wrote the authors of the report.
So what does this year's report reveal about the state of global liveability?Despite an overall flat average liveability score of 76.1 (unchanged from 2024), this year's findings are mixed.
According to the EIU, there's an overall global decline in stability, due to terrorism threats, civil unrest, housing crises and geopolitical tensions. 'Scores in the stability category have continued to fall amid geopolitical tensions, civil unrest and widespread housing crises. In several west European cities, terrorist attacks and threats, as well as a rising incidence of crime and xenophobia, continue to undermine stability,' wrote the authors of the report.
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, made the biggest leap in 2025's Global Liveability Index—rising 13 spots thanks to major gains in healthcare and education under Vision 2030.
On the other hand, there were improvements in scores for healthcare, education and infrastructure. Cities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE saw big gains in these categories, helping raise the overall scores for the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the biggest movers upward this year is Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, which climbed 13 spots from 148 to 135. 'The Kingdom is investing heavily in improving access to healthcare and education under Vision 2030, a far-reaching economic diversification program intended to reduce the country's reliance on oil,' wrote the authors of the report.
Two Asian cities also had notable upward movement: Jakarta rose from 142 to 132, and Bangkok rose from 122 to 116.
Some cities saw dramatic drops. Calgary, Canada—which ranked fifth last year—had the biggest drop on the list, falling 13 places to number 18, due to lower healthcare and stability scores.
In the U.K., London, Manchester and Edinburgh also slid down the list following unrest and rising crime.
Read on for the ranking of the best cities to live around the world and in the U.S.
Zurich, Switzerland, ties with Vienna for second place in the 2025 Global Liveability Index.
1. Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland (tie)
4. Melbourne, Australia
5. Geneva, Switzerland
6. Sydney, Australia
7. Osaka, Japan (tie)
7. Auckland, New Zealand (tie)
9 Adelaide, Australia
10. Vancouver, Canada
11. Luxembourg
12. Toronto, Canada
13. Helsinki, Finland
14. Tokyo, Japan
15. Perth, Australia
16. Brisbane, Australia
17. Frankfurt, Germany
18. Calgary, Canada
19. Amsterdam, Netherlands
20. Wellington, New Zealand
Atlanta, Georgia—the second best city to live in the U.S. in 2025.
1. Honolulu, Hawaii
2. Atlanta, Georgia
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. Seattle, Washington
5. Washington D.C.
6. Miami, Florida (tie)
6. Portland, Oregon (tie)
8. Chicago, Illinois
9. Indianapolis, Indiana (tie)
10. Charlotte, North Carolina (tie)
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