MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Buenos Aires most liveable city in Latam, but region scores in the bottom half

For the EIU the Argentine capital, Santiago and Montevideo are the best in the region

Buenos Aires is the most liveable city of Latinamerica followed closely by Santiago de Chile and Montevideo, according to the 2012 report form the Economist Intelligence Unit which ranks the degree of satisfaction and comfort of residents in 140 cities from all over the world based on several factors.

In the global ranking Buenos Aires was in position 62, while Australia’s Melbourne was top of the list, followed by Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Adelaide, Sydney, Helsinki, Perth and Auckland, making the prime list of ten.

Buenos Aires collected 83.6 points ahead of Santiago with 80.7 points and ranked 63, followed by Montevideo with 79.1 points and position 65. Other cities are San Juan de Puerto Rico, 78.7 points ranked 66; Lima, Peru, 72.9 and 81; Rio do Janeiro, 69.1 and position 92; Sao Paulo also 69.º1 and 92; Asuncion, Paraguay, 68.8 and 95; Panama City, 67.8 and 97 and Mexico City, 62 points and position 105.

The EIU report says that Latinamerica continues to be a continent with difficulties to be considered a world destination where to live, and underlines such drawbacks as “lack of adequate infrastructure, high levels of delinquency and crime and deficiencies in the areas of health and education”.

An interesting data is that in the UK Manchester dropped nine places from last year to 51st - while London fell two places to 55th - with the summer riots of 2011 cited as responsible for their drop down the table

The worst cities of the world, Damascus, Syria; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Teheran; Yaoundé, Cameroon; Tripoli, Libya; Karachi, Pakistan; Algiers; Harare, Zimbabwe, Lagos, Nigeria, Port Moresby, New Guinea and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The EIU report says that the score and ranking of the top 65 cities remain identical to six months ago. This may primarily reflect renewed stability as some economies begin to recover from the global economic crisis of a few years ago, although the continuing crisis in the Euro zone and tighter fiscal budgets may have also slowed planned improvements, meaning that scores have remained static rather than moving up or down.

Certainly, infrastructural development has been a driver over the last few years, with improvements to infrastructure in key cities in Australia, where the federal government initiated an ambitious long-term road-building program in 2010.

Vancouver is also embarking on a series of high-profile projects. Work began on an “Evergreen” mass transit line in 2012 and the authorities are reported to be considering measures such as “scramble intersections” or road tolls to counteract congestion. For cities in general, these measures will no doubt have a long-term benefit, but in the short term they can be disruptive.

The concept of liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. Liveability is increasingly used by city councils, organisations or corporate entities looking to test their locations against others to see general areas where liveability can differ.

The EIU liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Each city is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: Stability Healthcare Culture and environment Education Infrastructure The survey gives an overall rating of 0-100, where 1 is intolerable and 100 is ideal.