WORLD - Most Livable Cities
It’s considered among the most beautiful cities in the world to visit, and it seems that Vienna may also be an unbeatable place to live.
Vienna topped the list for the third consecutive year, receiving “perfect” scores in four out of five of the categories—the city was marked lower for culture and environment due to an apparent lack of significant sporting events.
Just behind the Austrian capital, Denmark’s Copenhagen retained its second place position, while Switzerland’s Zurich moved up from sixth place to third on the list.
Australia’s Melbourne fell from third to fourth place, while Canadian city Calgary tied for fifth place with Swiss city Geneva.
Canada’s Vancouver and Australia’s Sydney were in joint seventh place, and Japan’s Osaka and New Zealand’s Auckland rounded out the top 10 in joint ninth place.
In 23rd place, Honolulu, Hawaii was the highest US city on the list, while Atlanta, Georgia moved up four places to number 29.
Los Angeles was further down the list in 58th place, while New York came in at No. 70.
There was little change at the bottom of the list, with Damascus, Syria still ranking as the least liveable in the world, with Libya’s Tripoli, Algeria’s Algiers and Nigeria’s Lagos ranking just above.
“Since we conducted our survey, there have been more instances of civil unrest and demonstrations around the world, such as the campus protests across the US, suggesting continuing stress on liveability that is unlikely to ease in the near future.”
-uk.news.yahoo.com, 26 June 2024
Arno's Commentary
Europe leads the list, but it is of interest that the former colonial countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are in the top ten. Europe calls itself the safest, freest, and securest continent on earth.
While these statistics are not decisive for the rest of the world, it is significant that “good reports” mainly originate in Europe. Prophecy scholars and teachers understand that Europe represents Rome, which in the Bible is documented to be the last Gentile world empire.
In geopolitical terms, it’s called the European Union. It began with the Schuman Declaration on 9 May 1950, targeting the elimination of most trade barriers and establishing an external trade policy. Today, the Union consists of 27 member states with a population of 448 million, and more than a dozen waiting in line for membership.
We emphasize the economic and industrial ties which result in the union of other global groups. There are many hurdles, difficulties, disagreements, and problems, but in the end will be Mystery Babylon. Revelation 18:3 reads: “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” Yet the future is documented in verse 19: “And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
