THE performance of Dhaka in the Global Liveability Index 2024, which ranks cities according to their liveability status, has remained tellingly low for years. Dhaka was ranked the sixth least liveable city in the index, published on June 26 by the Economic Intelligence Unit. The index placed Dhaka in the 168th position among 173 cities, two notches down from the 166th in 2023. The index, which assesses cities in five broad categories, shows that there has been no improvement in the liveability status of Dhaka over the years as the city has consistently scored very low in all five indicators 鈥� political and social stability, access to health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure 鈥� for a few years and has been ranked in the 10 worst cities to live in. Dhaka鈥檚 overall score also dropped to 43.0, which was 43.8 in 2023. Dhaka鈥檚 score on infrastructure remains the worst, with only 26.8 points, while the city scored 50 in stability, 41.7 in health care, 40.5 in culture and environment and 66.7 in education. The index amply points out the sorry state of infrastructure, health care and environment in Dhaka.
The category of infrastructure is based on indicators such as the quality of road networks, public transport, water provision, telecommunications and international links and the availability of quality housing while health care is based mainly on the availability and quality of public and private healthcare facilities. Dhaka has lamentably failed to ensure infrastructure security. For Dhaka residents, it is, therefore, no surprise that the city has scored a miserable 26.8 in infrastructure. In health care, the city, which has failed to ensure access to safe and quality food, safe air and safe water, to maintain the required ratio of physicians and hospital beds to patients, and to ensure effective and sustainable environmental policy, has understandably scored low. Dhaka鈥檚 scores in education, culture and environment, and stability are also worryingly low as the city has largely failed to ensure quality education and a safe environment. In the Safe Cities Index 2024 too, Dhaka was named the fifth most unsafe city. Unplanned development, the absence of good governance, housing crisis, poor drainage and waste management, air and water pollution, a lack of open space, the crisis of public transport, traffic congestion, a lack of spaces for cultural practices and inadequate health care facilities have made living conditions in Dhaka sordid.
The government and the city authorities must, therefore, attend to issues to make the city liveable for its residents. Development rhetoric and narratives will not hide the harsh realities that Dhaka residents are steeped in. They would, rather, feel insulted unless the issues are adequately addressed.
