Japan was recently named the sixth most desirable country for people to move for work, and just last year, it was the second most popular destination for people to move overseas. So it comes as no surprise that two of Japan’s biggest cities have made the 2021 list of most livable cities in the world.
Tokyo was ranked as the fourth most livable city in the world according to The Economist’s annual Global Liveability Index, which examines a total of 140 cities worldwide. The capital is tied for fourth place with Wellington, New Zealand and sits just behind Auckland, New Zealand (first place), Osaka (second) and Adelaide, Australia (third).
This year’s report was heavily influenced by how each city dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as other qualitative and quantitative factors including stability, culture and environment, and education and infrastructure. Data used in the survey was collected between February 22 to March 21 of this year.
Tokyo and Osaka both had top scores for stability and healthcare, while Osaka took the lead over Tokyo in infrastructure. Education was rated the same for both cities, while Tokyo did better in the culture and environment category.
Meanwhile, cities in Europe and North America took a dive in the rankings this year, as they didn’t fare quite as well during the pandemic. Vienna, previously named most liveable city from 2018 to 2020, dropped down to 12th place this year. The report also notes that, as people have spent much more time in their own cities, it seems values have started to shift, with more emphasis now on green spaces and public transport – luckily Tokyo has plenty of both.
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