Pakistan’s Karachi Ranked World’s Fourth Least Livable City

Islamabad — Pakistan’s Karachi has been ranked the world’s fourth least livable city in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2026, placing 170th out of 173 cities, according to local media reports.

Only Dhaka, Damascus and Tripoli ranked below Karachi, Dawn reported.

The EIU index is a widely recognized benchmark for urban livability and resilience. It assesses cities based on indicators such as health care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, while measuring the challenges residents face in daily life.

Karachi received an overall score of 43 out of 100. The city scored 20 in stability, 54 in health care, 36 in culture and environment, 75 in education and 52 in infrastructure.

Copenhagen topped the list of the world’s most livable cities, followed by Vienna and Melbourne.

The ranking comes as residents of Karachi continue to face major challenges related to power, gas, water supply and street crime.

In June, residents struggled to prepare sehri and iftar meals for Ashura because of gas and electricity outages. K-Electric had said it exempted several areas from scheduled load-shedding until Muharram 11, but many residents still had to rely on alternative arrangements for electricity during religious gatherings, Dawn reported.

Large parts of the city, including Saddar, Burns Road, Lyari, Clifton, Defence Housing Authority, Federal B. Area, North Karachi, Liaquatabad, Malir, Korangi, Shah Faisal Colony, Orangi Town, Keamari and Baldia Town, faced prolonged power cuts.

Gas supply, already limited in many areas, disappeared completely in several neighborhoods, especially during iftar, leaving residents struggling to prepare food during Muharram. Many also faced water shortages because electricity was needed to pump water to their taps.

Residents took to social media to complain about the outages. Zafar Hasan, a resident, questioned why utility services failed during important religious days.

“Don’t they realise that people should be provided uninterrupted gas and electricity particularly during the observance of religious days when it is needed most?” Hasan said.

Karachi has also seen a rise in street crime. In May, data released by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee showed that residents were robbed of hundreds of vehicles and thousands of mobile phones between January and April this year, while killings and extortion cases also increased.

During the four-month period, 611 cars and 13,346 motorcycles were stolen or snatched, while 5,567 mobile phones were taken in street crime incidents, according to Pakistan’s Express Tribune. The city also reported 176 killings and 61 extortion cases during the period.

In April alone, 22 cars were snatched and 111 were stolen, while 469 motorcycles were snatched and 2,723 were stolen. During the same month, 1,624 mobile phones were snatched and 42 people were killed in separate incidents. (Source: IANS)