The 2021 edition of the Global Liveability Ranking of Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) finds that Auckland, New Zealand, is the most livable city in the world—with Osaka, Adelaide, Tokyo, and Wellington rounding out the top five, EIU reported. 

Auckland rose to the top of the ranking owing to its successful approach in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed its society to remain open and the city to score strongly on a number of metrics including education, culture and environment.

The biggest gainer in this year’s index is Honolulu. The city rose 46 places to fourteenth after its strong progress in containing the pandemic and rolling out its vaccination program.

However, overall, the COVID-19 pandemic caused livability to decline—as cities experienced lockdowns and significant strains on their healthcare systems. This led to an unprecedented level of change in the rankings, with many of the cities that were previously ranked as the most livable tumbling.

In particular, European and Canadian countries fared poorly in this year’s edition. Vienna, previously the world’s most livable city, fell to the twelfth position. While the biggest mover down overall was Hamburg, which fell 34 places to 47th.

Damascus, Syria, remains the world’s least livable city.