World's Most Livable City

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Vancouver topped the list of the world's most livable cities for the fifth straight year, while Melbourne claimed second place from Vienna and Australian and Canadian cities dominated the list's top 10 spots. Take a look at the top 10, along with some other notable cities.

(Rankings based on a combination of stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure)

For the fifth year in a row, Vancouver has been named the most livable city in the world. Still riding an Olympic high from hosting the Vancouver 2010 Games, the city beat out Melbourne, Australia and Vienna, Austria as the place where people most choose to live.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Two other Canadian cities, Toronto and Calgary, also made the Economist Intelligence Unit’s top ten list at fourth and fifth respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum was Harare, Zimbabwe, once a beautiful city but after three decades of rule under Robert Mugabe is squalid.


Vancouver took top spot with a score of 98 per cent based on rankings including health care, infrastructure, culture, environment and education. The Economist surveyed 140 cities.
Vancouver deserves to be at the top of the list, but it can just as easily be knocked off, according to Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson.
“This is something we can never, ever take for granted,” he said. “It’s something as a Vancouver resident it’s wonderful since you have your own set of glasses to look through. Given what this means to visitors, this means the city has all the right attributes. But being able to sustain something like that is a constant watch. It has to be top of mind that we do not let something like that slip.”

Melbourne, Australia

 The top 10 most livable cities in the world:
1. Vancouver
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Toronto
5. Calgary
6. Helsinki, Finland
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Perth, Australia
8. Adelaide, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand


The 10 least livable cities:
1. Harare, Zimbabwe
2. Dhaka, Bangladesh
3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
4. Lagos, Nigeria
5. Algiers, Algeria
6. Karachi, Pakistan
7. Douala, Cameroon
8. Tehran, Iran
9. Dakar, Senegal
10. Colombo, Sri Lanka

World's Hairiest Girl

Supatra Sasuphan doesn't mind being called the "World's Hairiest Girl." She and her family even sought the title from Guinness World Records.

The 11-year-old from Bangkok is likely to become a future Guinness star. She has a condition known as hypertrichosis, otherwise known as "Werewolf Syndrome."

"She's a remarkable little girl," said Marco Frigatti, a Guinness judge. "She's proud of who she is and wants to be treated just like everyone else. She's not the one with the problem; it's only those who treat her differently who've got the problem."

"Nat," as the girl likes to be called, told Guinness, "I don't feel any different to anyone else, and I've got lots of friends at school."

She doesn't like being called a "werewolf," but she is enjoying her newfound fame, having recently taken her first airplane ride.

"Being hairy makes me special," she said. "This the happiest day of my life!"

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Amphibian Couple to the rescue

Bangladesh suffered its driest July 2010 in decades, prompting farmers to turn to the centuries-old ritual of frog marriages.

Ramchandrapur village in Bangladesh's Sadullahpur district enjoyed an usual wedding.The marriage ceremony was comprised of the same rituals that are performed to certify an alliance between two humans. It was a joyous occasion for the residents with an urgent underlying appeal to God for a sufficient and consistent rainfall in the coming months.

Scientists say Bangladesh is one of the countries worst hit by the effects of climate change with extreme weather conditions such as drought and flooding likely to increase in future.