Study ranks PNG Capital Port Moresby among worst cities

Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby is listed as among the five least livable cities on earth, according to the study by Economic Intelligence Unit’s 2017 ranking released this week.

It listed Damascus as the least livable city, given the horror and hardship Syria has witnessed in recent times, followed by Lagos, Nigeria; Tripoli, Libya; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.

The five finished at the bottom of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 ranking, which examined five categories – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure – in 140 destinations.

“The only Southeast Asian city on the least livable list, Port Moresby is a historically strategic capital city during World War II with a now historically high poverty rate of about 40 per cent,” the report said.

“Across the board, Port Moresby is a challenging place, with a stability score of 30, a healthcare score of 37.5 and an infrastructure score of 39.3 – and all that is with Australian development assistance.

Imagine what the city would be like without it?” Port Moresby was also among the five least livable cities last year, according to the ranking, which included Damascus, Tripoli, Lagos, and Dhaka.

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop said on national radio yesterday that he was disappointed with the report and would comment further in a statement.

At the top end of the Economic Intelligence Unit scale, Melbourne was named the world’s most “livable” city for the seventh year running.

The capital of the Australian state of Victoria is known for its trendy cafés, bars and laneways,
Melbourne was given an overall rating of 97.5 out of 100, just enough to see off the challenge of Vienna (97.4) and Vancouver (97.3). Two more Canadian cities – Toronto and Calgary – made the top five.

This year’s top 10 is identical to last year’s, with Adelaide, Perth, Auckland, Helsinki and Hamburg all making the cut, but there have been changes further down the ranking.

Manchester slipped eight places to 51st, with the heightened terror threat following the bomb attack in May at an Ariana Grande concert to blame. Stockholm’s rating also fell after a terror attack in April.