Among the 172 cities taken into account this year in the ranking on the quality of life proposed by The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis office of the British group The Economist, are 27 metropolises in Africa and the Middle East. It is thanks to their health policy that Abu Dhabi and Dubai must be in the lead, ahead of Tel Aviv and Kuwait City, underlines the site of the economic magazine.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 99% of residents have received at least two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, the third highest rate in the world. This is what has allowed the country to avoid widespread lockdowns in 2021 and so far. “Abu Dhabi and Dubai have remained open for business since the first wave of the pandemic, in 2020. The relatively rapid economic recovery these two cities are experiencing is one of the reasons the cities rank high in the survey” , écrit The Economist.
On the other hand, the two cities only appear in the middle of the general classification. “The success they have had in the face of Covid is offset by fairly low scores in education and access to culture. Both cities still rank behind Hong Kong, for example – a city that has maintained strict quarantine rules, but scores high in other areas.
Of note: Kuwait City, the heart of one of the fastest growing economies in the Arabian Peninsula, jumped nine places – the most remarkable performance in the region.
Cities in sub-Saharan Africa are faring much worse. Johannesburg, South Africa, remains the most livable city in the region, but it slips five places in the ranking. Unemployment is at an all-time high in South Africa, power cuts are becoming more frequent and public services are in disarray.
Finally, unsurprisingly, it is Damascus, the Syrian capital, where 90% of the population lives below the poverty line, which experiences the worst living conditions and ranks last in the ranking.