Quality of life declining in India’s major metropolises

NEW DELHI:  Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, which was released today, September 4, saw major Indian metropolitans demoted to lower spots in the ranking compared to last year. The index ranks cities on 5 headline criteria namely – stability and culture & environment, healthcare and infrastructure and education. A decline in positions for Delhi and Mumbai is indicative to the fact that quality of life in India’s major metropolises has declined over the years. Delhi dropped down 6 places from 112 to 118, while Mumbai slipped from 117 to 119. The decline in Delhi’s position has been attributed by the report to an increase in petty crime cases over the past year, as well as recording some of the world’s worst air quality levels meanwhile Mumbai’s downgrade came from loss of evaluation in its culture category.

“Few cities in Asia have seen major changes to their score over the past year, with the exceptions of Colombo, which has seen its stability score fall following the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, and New Delhi, which dropped six places in the ranking relative to last year. The Indian capital has seen an increase in petty crime cases over the past year, as well as recording some of the world’s worst air quality levels. The 2018 update to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Ambient Air Quality Database shows that New Delhi currently boasts the sixth highest annual mean concentration of fine particulate matter among cities around the world,” the report states.

Another Asian city Dhaka, remains the third lowest ranked city in the index, and the weakest performer in Asia. Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea stood at 135^th rank and Karachi in Pakistan at 136^th are the other two Asian cities that appear in the bottom ten cities in the rankings.

“Reflecting the diversity of Asia, these cities all have fairly different characteristics. Dhaka is relatively stable but has very poor health provision and outcomes, and very weak infrastructure. Karachi has very high crime rates and gang violence, but education is considered fairly strong and its infrastructure score is passable.” the report adds.

Austrian capital Vienna and Australia’s Melbourne remained at the top of the list, not unlike the previous year indexes.