Canada Has 3 Of The Most Livable Cities In The World

Colin R. Singer
June 28, 2022

Three Canadian cities – Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto – are among the top 10 most liveable cities in the world, says The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

“The top 10 of our rankings remains dominated by western European cities, along with several from Canada,” notes the EIU. “In second place, behind Vienna, is Copenhagen, while Calgary has jumped from 18th (owing to the removal of COVID-19 restrictions) to join Zurich in joint third.”

Bragging rights for being the most livable city in Canada go to Calgary, which tied with Zurich for the third spot globally. Vancouver came in second in Canada and fifth in the world – there was no fourth-place finisher – while Toronto is now officially the third most livable city in Canada and the eighth-best in the world.

Most-Livable Cities Have Reopened Shops, Restaurants, Schools And Museums

Mid-sized cities – in contrast to the mega-metropolises – in wealthy counties fared very well in the survey of 173 cities throughout the world dubbed The Global Liveability Index 2022: Recovery and Hardship.

“The top 10 cities are also among those with few COVID-19 restrictions,” notes the report. “Shops, restaurants and museums have reopened, as have schools, and pandemic-led hospitalization has declined, leading to less stress on healthcare resources and services, and even the requirement to wear masks is no longer in force in most situations.

“As a result, cities that were towards the top of our rankings before the pandemic has rebounded on the back of their stability, good infrastructure and services, as well as enjoyable leisure activities.”

Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto in Top 10 Most Livable Cities in the World

City	Rank	Index	Stability	Healthcare	Culture & Environment	Education	Infrastructure
Vienna, Austria	1	99.1	100	100	96.3	100	100
Copenhagen, Denmark	2	98	100	95.8	95.4	100	100
Zurich, Switzerland	3=	96.3	95	100	96.3	91.7	96.4
Calgary, Canada	3=	96.3	95	100	90	100	100
Vancouver, Canada	5	96.1	90	100	100	100	92.9
Geneva, Switzerland	6	95.9	95	100	94.9	91.7	96.4
Frankfurt, Germany	7	95.7	90	100	96.3	91.7	100
Toronto, Canada	8	95.4	95	100	95.4	100	89.3
Amsterdam, Netherlands	9	95.3	90	100	97.2	91.7	96.4
Osaka, Japan	10=	95.1	100	100	83.1	100	96.4
Melbourne, Australia	10=	95.1	95	83.3	98.6	100	100

All three Canadian cities in the top 10 got a perfect score for healthcare and education.

Public healthcare system takes care of the vast majority of the medical needs of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. It also helped those three cities that are home to universities ranked as being among the top in the world.

Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto each got top marks in the education category in the EIU survey.

That comes on the heels of a ranking by QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a provider of analytics and insight to the global higher education sector, showing the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia are among the best 50 universities in the world.

In its annual QS Top Universities ranking, the organization also placed the University of Calgary and Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, among the top quarter of universities in the world.

Calgary Lost Points For Culture, Vancouver For Stability

The EIU ranking of most livable cities survey knocked 10 per cent off of Calgary for culture and environment and the same amount off of Vancouver in the stability category. That West Coast city also lost points in the infrastructure category, the same part of the survey that cost Toronto 10.7 per cent.

The most livable city in the world was deemed to be Vienna in Austria.

Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index (NBI) ranked Canada last year as the top country in the world for its immigration practices and investment climate.

“First place rankings on the governance, people, and immigration and investment indices, as well as relatively steady rankings on exports, tourism, and culture contributed to Canada’s record ranking in 2021,” noted the report by Ipsos, the world’s third-largest Insights and analytics company.

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A key strategy in Canada’s plan to recover economically in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is immigration.

In its Immigration Levels Plan for 2022 to 2024, Canada is aiming to bring in 431,645 immigrants this year, 447,055 next year, and 451,000 in 2024.

“Immigration has helped shape Canada into the country it is today. From farming and fishing to manufacturing, healthcare and the transportation sector, Canada relies on immigrants,” said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser earlier this year.

“We are focused on economic recovery, and immigration is the key to getting there. Setting bold new immigration targets, as outlined in the 2022-2024 Levels Plan, will further help bring the immeasurable contribution of immigrants to our communities and across all sectors of the economy.”

TR-to-PR and CUAET Big Drivers Of Newcomers To Canada This Year

Two big drivers of immigration to Canada this year are the one-time, temporary-to-permanent resident (TR-to-PR) program which kicked off in May last year.

Although applications for the TR to PR program closed in early November last year, not all the applications have been processed and the immigration levels plan calls for 32,000 new permanent residents under that pathway this year.

Another program fuelling immigration is the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) which had, as of June 15, received 312,548 applications, including 136,877 which had been approved.

Canada is committed to accepting an unlimited number of Ukrainian refugees under the CUAET.

Established March 17 to help Ukrainians forced to flee after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the CUAET provides them and their immediate family members with temporary residency in Canada for up to three years.