Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, has moved three notches down in the Global Liveability Index of The Economist Intelligence Unit and now ranks the 3rd worst liveable city, next to war-ravaged Syria鈥檚 Damascus and Libya鈥檚 Tripoli.
In 2024, Dhaka was adjudged the sixth worst liveable city among 173 cities in the world. The city of 20 million people was ranked the 7th worst liveable city in 2023.
According to the report of the EIU, a sister organisation of The Economist, published on Monday, Dhaka scored 41.7 out of 100.
Denmark鈥檚 capital Copenhagen was adjudged as the most liveable city due to its stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
The ranking took into consideration over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories including healthcare, education, stability, infrastructure and environment among 173 cities across the globe, the report said.
Urban planners blamed the lack of good governance and coordination among the government authorities for not increasing the score in the liveability index.
The other top five liveable cities are respectively Austria鈥檚 Vienna, Switzerland鈥檚 Zurich, Australia鈥檚 Melbourne and Geneva. The cities scored between 97.1 and 96.8 in the meter.
Dhaka scored 45 in stability, 41.7 in healthcare, 40.5 in culture and environment, 66.7 in education and 26.8 in infrastructure.
Pakistan鈥檚 Karachi ranked the 4th worst of the cities in the world with a score of 42.7.
Bangladesh Institute of Planners general secretary Shaikh Muhammad Mehedi Ahsan said that Dhaka was not developed with a good plan over the decades and now the problems had intensified with the increase of its population.
鈥楿rban population increased rapidly but we couldn鈥檛 provide them with utilities. As a result, Dhaka is now one of the worst liveable cities,鈥� he said.
The urban planner suggested that the government should adopt a national development plan and decentralise the city based on economic activities.
鈥楧haka is now overburdened. The natural ecosystem is not working here. We must install them in a planned way to improve the situation,鈥� he said.
Dhaka North City Corporation administrator Mohammad Azaz could not be reached for comments over the telephone.
Urban planners blamed unplanned development, absence of good governance, housing crisis, water stagnation, poor drainage and waste management, inadequate healthcare facilities for Dhaka鈥檚 sordid living conditions.
