Pollution, disease, corruption, terrorist attacks and some of the worst traffic in the
world—all of this can be found in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
The city is marked with high unemployment and inadequate infrastructure, and more than
thirty percent of its population is living below the poverty line.
So it may come as a surprise that even Dhaka doesn’t qualify as one of the Economist’s
five least livable cities in 2016.
So, which cities do?
Well, one of them is Douala, the largest city in Cameroon.
Since the late 1980’s, Douala’s population has grown considerably faster than the country
as a whole.
While the city has grown outwards and become more dense, its infrastructure has largely
remained the same, resulting in poor access to basic services like healthcare and education.
This is perhaps best exemplified on Douala’s roads, which are weak, overcrowded and neglected.
Between 2010 and 2015, more than 20,000 Cameroonians died while in transit.
Residents are considerably more likely to perish on roads or trains than they are by
the country’s ongoing malaria problem or by the West African insurgent group Boko Haram.
Although Douala is a port city and the financial center of Cameroon’s relatively stable economy,
there are few job opportunities for the population.
In fact, those living in Cameroonian cities like Douala are roughly twice as likely to
be unemployed than those living rural areas.
Similar to Douala, the population of Pakistan’s Karachi, has grown faster than its infrastructure
can handle.
Karachi consistently ranks among the world’s least livable cities, as its roads, housing
and public services fail to live up to the needs of its rapidly growing population, which
is expected to reach nearly 25 million by 2030.
One of Karachi’s greatest infrastructure challenges is water and sewage.
With no regulations on water supply or sanitation, leaks and large scale theft are common, and
many residents are forced to ration.
Moreover, the city lacks an adequate sewage system, meaning that only half of all estimated
solid waste actually ends up in dump sites.
Many residents suffer from diseases linked to tainted water, and lead exposure is rife,
leading to disabilities in children.
Unregulated industrial output pollutes the air, and natural disasters like floods, earthquakes,
cyclones, heat waves and fires are not uncommon.
These issues are particularly consequential for residents of the city’s poor makeshift
squatting communities, called Katchi Abadis.
These shantytowns house more than half of Karachi’s residents and are reportedly growing
more than twice as fast as the city at large.
But, according to the Economist, the least liveable city in the world is Ukraine’s
capital, Kiev.
In 2014, parts of the city were left in shambles after clashes between anti-government demonstrators
and riot police.
Russian-back separatists and the Ukrainian government forged a ceasefire in 2015, however,
the pact unraveled the following year, resulting in resumed fighting and protests in the Ukrainian
capital.
Although the violence has largely subsided, many in Kiev are still feeling the revolution’s
economic toll.
In 2014 the World Bank estimated that Ukraine’s economy contracted by 8 percent, due in part
to Russian import bans.
Two years later, little progress has been made in improving the economy.
Although they don’t qualify as the least liveable, some cities, like Damascus, Syria
and Moscow, Russia, are quickly descending the list.
Like Kiev, Moscow is suffering from Russia’s economic slump, not to mention harsh weather
and some of the worst traffic in the world.
Damascus is the seat of government in a country plagued by civil war.
These and other issues bear a considerable burden on quality of life and are unlikely
to dissolve anytime soon.
If you’re looking to relocate to a new city, Douala, Karachi and Kiev may not be the best
choice.
Many other cities have comparably better quality of life.
To find out which cities are the most livable, check out this video.
Many major cities throughout the world can actually be victims of their own success.
Cities such as New York City or London are world renown, but also have higher crime rates,
overpopulation, leading into infrastructure failure and often much higher costs of living.
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