For many people in western Europe, the pandemic is a thing of the past. This return to normality is reflected in a survey of “liveable” cities compiled by TheEIU, our corporate cousins
people in western Europe, the pandemic is a thing of the past. Mask-wearers are a small minority and lockdowns are a distant, if painful, memory. This return to normality is reflected in a, our corporate cousins. The index compares 172 cities around the world across five categories: culture and environment, education, health care, infrastructure, and stability.
The reopening of cities across western Europe has returned the region’s average scores to something close to their pre-pandemic norms. That also makes it the most liveable region globally. In the overall list, all but one of the ten biggest improvements in the year were made in western Europe . The top three movers were in Germany: Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg improved their liveability thanks mainly to big leaps in their culture scores after covid measures were eased.
Not all corners of the continent have enjoyed the same improvements. By comparison, cities in eastern Europe are recovering from covid-era drops in liveability at a slower pace; the average score in the east is now 20 points lower than the west. Already-strained health-care systems have been hamstrung by slow vaccine rollouts; many cities remain rife with corruption. Istanbul, the only city in