Despite being one of the world’s fastest-growing tech hubs, according to the livability index, Bengaluru is the least livable city in India.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, compiles this index every year.
This week, the latest annual livability index report was released, ranking cities worldwide according to their ‘livability’ quotient or ease of living.
Indian cities
The livability index ranked New Delhi 140th with a livability score of 56.5, putting it at the top of the list in India.
Mumbai followed this at 141 (score 56.2), Chennai at 142 (score 55.8), Ahmedabad at 143 ( score 55.7) and Bengaluru at 146 (score 54.4).
The ideal score is 100.
If a city’s livability score is between 50-60 — as is the case with the Indian cities — then “liveability is substantially constrained”.
Earn more by living in the unlivable city
Companies pay employees who move to cities with challenging living conditions a premium.
The report aggregator has given a suggested allowance to correspond with the rating.
Employers should pay employees an additional 15% allowance if they work in any of the Indian cities.
Indian cities’ performance
The report analysed living conditions in 173 cities across the world.
New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad were the only Indian cities on the list.
All were ranked between 140 and 146, which means they fell in the bottom quintile on the index.
Five parameters
Livability is judged on five broad parameters — stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Stability, culture, and environment get the highest weightage — 25 per cent each.
The weighting of healthcare and infrastructure is 20 percent each.
Education has a weightage of 10 per cent in the ranking.
What happened with Bengaluru?
As far as stability, healthcare, culture, environment, and education are concerned, Bengaluru maintained pace with other Indian cities.
According to the report, the city lags behind when it comes to infrastructure.
The infrastructure score is determined by seven indicators – the quality of roads, public transportation, international links, energy, telecommunications, water, and housing availability.
It received a score of 46.4 (out of 100) in infrastructure, the lowest among all Indian cities.
Worse than Karachi, on par with Lagos
According to the results, Delhi scored the highest – 62.5 – followed by Mumbai, with a score of 55.4.
Ahmedabad and Chennai both received 50 points.
Among the five least liveable cities in the world, Karachi in Pakistan ranked better on the infrastructure parameter than Bengaluru – 51.8.
According to the World Habitable Cities Index, Bengaluru’s infrastructure score is comparable to that of Lagos in Nigeria, which also scored 46.4.
Stability
Ahmedabad scored the highest on the stability parameter, 65 out of 100.
Bengaluru, Chennai, and Mumbai each scored 60, while Delhi scored 50.
A country’s stability is determined by the prevalence of petty crimes, violent crimes, terrorism threats, military conflicts, and civil unrest.
Culture and environment
The city of Ahmedabad scored the lowest in the ‘culture and environment’ parameter, with only 44.4 points (out of 100), whereas Mumbai scored the highest, with 50.7 points.
Bengaluru came in third with 47.2 points, followed by Chennai with 46.5 points. Delhi scored 48.6 points.
Several factors were considered, including weather, corruption, social and religious restrictions, sporting availability, culture, and ratings on food and drink.
Healthcare
Coming to the healthcare parameter, Chennai, Delhi and Bengaluru scored 58.3 each (out of a total of 100).
Mumbai and Ahmedabad score 54.2 each.
This parameter measured the quality of public and private healthcare infrastructure and medicines’ availability.
Education
Coming to education, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru scored 75 each, while both Mumbai and Ahmedabad scored 66.7.
It is calculated on the basis of availability of private education and its quality and public education indicators.
World rankings
In the worldwide rankings of the EIU, Vienna in Austria topped the list primarily because of its stability and good infrastructure.
Western European and Canadian cities dominated the top rankings.
In second place is Copenhagen, Denmark, followed by Zurich, Switzerland, and Calgary, Canada.
Syrian capital Damascus is the least livable city in the world.