We've Done It Again, We're Number One ...

Vancouver has managed to do it again. The Economist Magazine has voted Vancouver the number one most liveable city in the world. I'm sure by now you are getting tired of listening to me shamelessly bragging posting about this. Well, I certainly can't take any credit for Vancouver being the number one city, so I'm not really bragging, am I? Well, maybe I am -- just a little bit. This picture is a view of the city, taken from Spanish Banks, which at this time of the year is really the most wonderful place in the Lower Mainland. We used to live not far from this beach, and my daughter and I used to go for walks along there on summer evenings. The tide goes out literally for miles, almost to the freighters docked in the harbor.

CANADIAN and Australian cities account for six of the top ten spots in the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest liveability ranking (see full report). All of the cities in the top ten scored well over 80.0, the threshold below which difficulties are apparent in day-to-day living. Vancouver is still the world’s most liveable city, with a rating of 98.0; Sydney and Zurich, sharing ninth place, achieved a score less than 2% lower than Vancouver’s. The worst-performing locations are in Africa or Asia, where civil instability and poor infrastructure present significant challenges. The unfolding political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe makes Harare the least desirable city in the survey. Locations within Afghanistan and Iraq are not included.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Each city is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. The categories are compiled and weighted to provide an overall rating of 1–100, where 1 is considered intolerable and 100 is considered ideal.

I have emphasized health care, because there has been considerable debate lately as to whether Canada's health care system is any good. I think it is excellent, but not nearly as good as France's, which is definitely the best in the world. The World Health Organization has compiled lists of the ranking of health care and longevity in every country. Canada was listed as 30th in health care (France was 1st and the US was 37th), and in longevity, Canada was 12th (Japan was 1st and the US was 24th).

But there are so many more things that go into making up a wonderful, liveable city like Vancouver -- apart from the sheer beauty of the place. The longer I live here, the more I am gobsmacked by the gorgeous areas all over the Lower Mainland, that I have always taken for granted. I sure hope you have the chance to visit one day. You will love it.

And now I have a question for you: Is it livable or liveable? Enquiring minds want to know.