Copenhagen crowned world's most liveable city for second year in a row

The 2026 Economist Intelligence Unit Global Liveability Index has crowned Copenhagen the world's most liveable city for the second consecutive year, with the Danish capital scoring highly for stability, education, infrastructure and culture.

Copenhagen came top in the report with Vienna in Austria coming second, followed by Melbourne and Sydney, both in Australia.

Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland came next, followed by Osaka in Japan in seventh place and Adelaide, Australia, in eighth. Finally, Vancouver (Canada) and Tokyo (Japan) rounded out the top ten.

Copenhagen received perfect scores of 100 in the stability, education and infrastructure categories, as well as receiving one of the highest scores for culture and environment in the study (95 out of 100), which assessed 173 cities worldwide.

It also scored 96 on healthcare, giving the city an overall score of 98 out of a possible 100.

All of the cities in the top ten scored a perfect 100 on education, while Copenhagen and Vancouver were the only two in the top ten to not also score 100 on healthcare.

Laura Amira Kassem, a doctor and PhD student living in Copenhagen, told the BBC why she loves the city.

"You can bike to work, jump in the harbour after and be home for dinner. It's not a special day, it's just Tuesday," she said. "That combination of cycling infrastructure, swimmable urban water and a genuinely walkable, bikeable scale is something I haven't found anywhere else."

Her recommendations for visitors include Nørrebro, followed by a cycle to Nordhavn for a swim and coffee, then smørrebrød at Det Gamle Apotek. She also recommended running along the lakes or at Utterslev Mose or Fælledparken.