Copenhagen best city rankings have once again placed the Danish capital at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, which compares living conditions in 173 cities worldwide across stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Copenhagen keeps first place in the liveability index
For the second year in a row, Copenhagen has been named the world’s most liveable city, ahead of Vienna and Melbourne. The ranking, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), gives the Danish capital an overall score of 98 out of 100.
Copenhagen received the maximum score in stability, education and infrastructure, while also ranking highly for culture and environment. The result confirms the city’s position as one of the strongest urban models in Europe for everyday quality of life, public services and mobility.
The rest of the top ten includes Sydney, Zurich, Geneva, Osaka, Adelaide, Vancouver and Tokyo.
Why Copenhagen is still seen as the best city to live in
The EIU index measures how comfortable it is to live in a city, rather than how attractive it is as a tourist destination. This gives particular weight to factors such as public transport, safety, access to education, healthcare and the quality of urban infrastructure.
Copenhagen’s result reflects several long-standing features of the Danish capital: a dense cycling network, reliable public services, access to green areas and a waterfront that has become part of daily urban life.
Laura Amira Kassem, a PhD student who has lived in Copenhagen for eight years, told BBC that the city’s appeal lies in how ordinary its quality of life can feel.
“You can cycle to work, jump into the harbour afterwards and be home in time for dinner. It is not a special day, just an ordinary Tuesday in Copenhagen,” she said.
She also pointed to the city’s running routes around Utterslev Mose, Fælledparken and the Lakes (Søerne), as well as the district of Nørrebro, where greengrocers, kebab shops and jewellery stores sit alongside sourdough bakeries and natural wine bars.
A Nordic model of urban life
Copenhagen’s high ranking is closely linked to the broader Nordic approach to urban planning: compact cities, strong public infrastructure, accessible services and a high level of trust in public institutions.
The Danish capital has also become an international reference point for cycling policy. For many residents, cycling is not a lifestyle choice but a practical part of commuting, shopping and social life. That everyday accessibility is one of the reasons Copenhagen is often used as a benchmark in debates on sustainable cities.
At the same time, the ranking does not mean the city is without problems. Copenhagen faces housing pressure, rising living costs and debates over whether the city’s popularity is making it less accessible for younger residents and lower-income households. These issues are increasingly central to discussions about the future of liveability in the Nordic capitals.
Global instability shapes the ranking
The EIU notes that global liveability remained broadly stable in 2026, but with significant regional differences. The report highlights declining stability in parts of the Middle East, linked to the Iran war, while several Asian cities improved thanks to investments in healthcare and infrastructure.
At the bottom of the ranking, Damascus remains the least liveable city, despite reported improvements in healthcare after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Tehran has also entered the bottom ten following the war that began in late February, after attacks by the USA and Israel and Iran’s subsequent retaliation.
These contrasts underline why stability remains such an important factor in the index. Copenhagen’s position at the top is not only about attractive streets, cycling lanes or harbour baths, but also about the resilience of public systems and the predictability of daily life.
For Denmark, the result reinforces Copenhagen’s global image as a city where infrastructure, safety and urban design are closely connected. The next challenge will be whether the Danish capital can preserve that liveability while remaining socially accessible in a city under growing international and housing pressure.
