The study by the Economist Intelligence Unit gave Vancouver the top rating of 98 per cent, with only petty crime and the availability of good-quality housing preventing a perfect score.
Vienna, Austria is ranked second, followed by Melbourne, Australia in third place. Toronto moved up two spots in this study to fourth place. Harare, Zimbabwe ranked lowest of the 140 cities.
The survey assessed living conditions by assigning a rating of relative comfort for more than 30 factors across five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
The cities that scored best tended to be mid-sized, in developed countries with a low population density, benefiting from cultural or recreational availability but with lower crime levels or infrastructure problems that can be caused by large populations.
