If EIU’s liveable-cities index has had a theme song in recent years it would be Ultravox’s hit “Vienna”. Austria’s capital has been ranked the world’s most liveable city five times since 2018. Not this year. Vienna lost out because two thwarted terrorist attacks dragged down its stability score, which covers the threat of terrorism as well as civil unrest and military conflict. The average liveability score of the world’s cities didn’t change much in this year’s index. Challenges to stability in many offset improvements to education and health care elsewhere. The world has become even less stable since May, when EIU (our sister company) finished its survey. It will be a relief if the index in 2026 shows that the world remains as liveable as it is now.