6 of the world’s 10 least liveable cities of 2018 are in Africa

A new report has places six African cities among the 10 least liveable cities in the world in 2018.

The report by the Economist Intelligent Unit measures the livability of cities all over the world using different ratings. Under stability, the organisation checks for petty and violent crimes as well as terror and military and civil conflict. 

It also measures healthcare which includes the presence and quality of public and private healthcare, and over the counter drugs. The third category looks at the environmental and cultural factors such as humidity, climate, censorship, corruption, religious restrictions, food and drink and consumer goods.  In the education category, the report considers the quality and availability of private education and the status of public education.

The final category is infrastructure which measures quality of road network, public transport and international links. It also looked at the provision of water, housing and energy as well as telecommunications.

Using these ratings, South Africa’s Johannesburg had the best score of 69.1 per cent, ranked 92 in the world together with Rio de Janeiro. Its ranking was let down by increased rates of crime in the city. 

Ivory Coast’s Abidjan is the world’s most improved city ranked 124 with a score of 52.2 per cent, a 6.3 per cent increase within five years.

The least liveable cities were ranked poorly in presence and quality of infrastructure as well as presence of conflict and violence. 

Scroll through to learn which African cities were ranked poorly in the report.