Lagos ranked second worst city to live in globally – EIU report

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital has been ranked the second worst capital to live in according to a global ranking report.

The Economic Intelligence Unit, EIU’s, Global Liveability Index 2021 which focussed on “How the COVID-19 pandemic affected liveability worldwide.”

Lagos ranked 139 out of 140 cities with the Syrian capital Damascus being the worst worldwide.

The data employed in the ranking was collected between February 22nd to March 21st, 2021, with major considerations on issues like border closures, ability to handle health crisis, and roll out of vaccinations.

To rank the cities, the report focuses on five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

Every city is assigned a rating for relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across the categories.

Top Ten least livable cities in 2021

1. Damascus, Syria

2. Lagos, Nigeria

3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

4. Dhaka, Bangladesh

5. Algiers, Algeria

6. Tripoli, Libya

7. Karachi, Pakistan

8. Harare, Zimbabwe

9. Douala, Cameroon

10. Caracas, Venezuela

According to the report, the poorest ranking cities are struggling with growing civil unrest and military conflicts a major reason for being in the worst ten.

Lagos is notorious for its massive traffic situation despite being a favourable business destination in Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation.

It is a mega city with growth expected to continue to rise population wise and in terms of businesses.

Lagos was the epicenter of mass protests by young people against police brutality via the #EndSars movement in October 2020.

About the ranking

According to the EIU: The concept of liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world provide the best and worst living conditions.

Assessing liveability has a broad range of uses, from benchmarking perceptions of development levels to assigning a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages.

City officials and urban policymakers can use the rankings to benchmark target cities against the top-ranked cities.

The ratings can help them to understand the gap between target cities and the best-ranked cities across different categories. This in turn should help to frame policies and target investors.

Auckland, in New Zealand, topped the list of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Liveability rankings, based on the city’s ability to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic faster and thus lift restrictions earlier, unlike others around the world.