Zurich named world's second-most liveable city for 2025

Zurich has climbed another place in the Global Liveability Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), to be named the second-most liveable city in the world. Another Swiss city also features inside the top 10 in 2025. 

The EIU’s Global Liveability Index 2025

The Global Liveability Index is an annual ranking of the cities around the world that provide the best living conditions, scoring them on factors such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. 

These scores are then compiled and weighted to give an overall score out of 100, with a score between 80 and 100 indicating that the city comes with few, if any, challenges to living standards. 

This year, the average liveability score across the 173 cities featured in the index was the same as in 2024: 76,1 out of 100. Overall, stability scores declined, but this was offset by increases in scores for education, healthcare and infrastructure. There was some movement in the ranking, with Vienna unseated as the world’s most liveable city after three years at the top, and Copenhagen rising to number one. 

Zurich and Geneva claim spots in top 10

Zurich was named, alongside Vienna, the world’s second-most liveable city, clocking up perfect scores on healthcare and education, and scoring over 90 in all other categories. Geneva joined Zurich in the top 10, ranking fifth overall and matching Zurich’s perfect scores for healthcare and education, and scoring only marginally worse on culture and environment. 

Both cities achieved their worst scores in the stability factor, with the EIU reporting that Western Europe’s stability score has fallen since 2024 amid more frequent terrorism threats, riots and antisemitic attacks. 

The world’s most liveable cities in 2025

According to the EIU, these are the most liveable cities in the world in 2025:

• 1. Copenhagen, Denmark
• =2. Vienna, Austria
• =2. Zurich, Switzerland
• 4. Melbourne, Australia
• 5. Geneva, Switzerland
• 6. Sydney, Australia
• =7. Osaka, Japan
• =7. Auckland, New Zealand
• 9. Adelaide, Australia
• 10. Vancouver, Canada

You can read the full report on the EIU website.