Lagos ranks 4th worst city to live in, Report

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2023 Global Livability report has ranked Lagos as the fourth worst city to live in the world.

The report evaluated 173 cities and used 30 qualitative and quantitative indicators across five major categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

Lagos was placed higher than Algiers, Algeria’s capital, Tripoli, Libya’s capital, and Damascus, Syria’s war-torn capital.

According to the EIU, Lagos rose in the rankings due to advances in healthcare and education, although corruption remains a concern.

Lagos was the second worst liveable city in 2022 after holding the position for two years in a row, trailing only Damascus, which has been held down on the list by social upheaval, terrorism, and violence.

“Even at the bottom of our rankings, cities such as Lagos (Nigeria) and Algiers (Algeria) have gained ground, with some improvements in their healthcare and education systems. Both are in countries that are energy exporters and have to some extent benefited from higher global oil and gas prices,” the report reads.

“Although corruption continues to be an issue, some additional public funding has been made available for infrastructure and public services, which have also benefited from the decline in covid cases.”

Vienna, the Austrian capital, and Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, retained their positions as first and second most liveable cities in the world owing to their “unsurpassed combination of stability, good infrastructure, strong education, and healthcare services, and plenty of culture and entertainment”.

Melbourne and Sydney, cities in Australia, and Vancouver in Canada came in at third, fourth, and fifth places respectively on top of the ranks.