The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey ranks Nairobi at position 120 in the list of 140 cities that are pleasant to live in from 125 last year, its lowest score.
The survey ranks cities based on five categories such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, stability, culture and environment.
The survey rates crime levels as ‘undesirable’ while civil unrest and the threat of terrorism both as ‘uncomfortable.’
Nairobi has improved five places in a global survey of living conditions, recovering from last year’s deterioration.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey, which was released Wednesday, ranks Kenya’s capital at position 120 in the list of 140 cities that are pleasant to live in from 125 last year, its lowest score.
The EIU survey ranks cities based on five categories such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, stability, culture and environment.
“This year, Nairobi’s stability ranking has improved five points which is why it has gone up,” said Roisin Miller of EIU told the Business Daily.
Nairobi’s liveability profile shows that despite the improvement in stability category, which assesses crime levels, civil conflicts and terrorism threats, the city is still underperforming.
The survey rates crime levels as ‘undesirable’ while civil unrest and the threat of terrorism both as ‘uncomfortable.’
The city’s general healthcare is rated ‘intolerable’, while public education, transport, road network and water supply, are all measured as ‘undesirable.’ Nairobi, however, scores highly in the culture and environment category for having a good climate, albeit with an undesirable culture of corruption.
The rankings offer a sneak preview of a country’s level of development and are used as a tool to guide firms setting shop in new countries and paying expatriates. It also determines a city’s ability to attract and retain foreign investment, expatriates and tourists.
“Companies pay a premium (usually a percentage of a salary) to employees who move to cities where living conditions are particularly difficult and there is excessive physical hardship or a notably unhealthy environment,” the study says.
Nairobi was ranked 120 in 2015, 122 in 2014 and 125 in 2011 — when the EIU survey was first launched.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
