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The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister publication of The Economist of London, says Lagos, Nigeria’s economic nerve centre, is now the fourth worst city to live in the world.

According to the EIU’s 2023 Global Liveability report, Lagos was ranked above Algiers, the capital of Algeria; Tripoli, Libya’s capital; and Damascus, the capital of war-torn Syria.

The report surveyed 173 cities and used 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

Lagos was the second worst liveable city in 2022 after holding the position for two consecutive years and was only behind Damascus which has been held down on the list by social unrest, terrorism and conflict.

EIU said Lagos moved up the ranks after seeing improvements in healthcare and education but added that corruption is still a problem.

“Even at the bottom of our rankings, cities such as Lagos (Nigeria) and Algiers (Algeria) have gained ground, with some improvements in their healthcare and education systems. Both are in countries that are energy exporters and have to some extent benefited from higher global oil and gas prices,” the report reads.

“Although corruption continues to be an issue, some additional public funding has been made available for infrastructure and public services, which have also benefited from the decline in covid cases.”

Vienna, the Austrian capital, and Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, retained their positions as first and second most liveable cities in the world owing to their “unsurpassed combination of stability, good infrastructure, strong education and healthcare services, and plenty of culture and entertainment”.

Melbourne and Sydney, cities in Australia, and Vancouver in Canada, came in at third, fourth and fifth places respectively on top of the ranks.

LAGOS THROUGH THE YEARS

In 2017, a survey of 140 countries pegged Lagos as the worst city to live in the world — after Damascus.

In 2018, Lagos’ prospects improved, moving above Bangladesh in India and Damascus, to become the third least liveable city.

However, in 2019, Nigeria’s economic hub became the world’s most dangerous city to live in.