The Austrian capital of Vienna has kept its position as the second most liveable city in the world, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit released on August 18, though rising instability meant that Kyiv, Moscow and St Petersburg all appeared in the top-10 list of the biggest declines in liveability scores over the past five years.

The EIU attempts to quantify the world’s most “liveable” cities – that is, which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. The index, measured out of 100, considers 30 factors related to safety, health care, educational resources, infrastructure and the environment to calculate scores for 140 cities.

This year’s survey has the top five cities remaining unchanged, with Vienna sitting just behind top-placed Melbourne.

Three Central and Eastern European/Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) cities appeared in the top-10 list of the most improved liveability scores over the last five years: Warsaw in Poland saw a 2.1% five-year improvement to 65th spot; Bratislava saw a 1.7% improvement to 63rd spot; and Baku in Azerbaijan saw a 1.6% improvement to 103rd spot.

However, the past year has seen increasing instability across the world, causing volatility in the scores of many cities, including some of those in the CEE/CIS region.

Kyiv was the only CEE/CIS to appear in the list of ten least liveable cities, ranked at 131st place out of 140 cities. And Kyiv, Moscow and St Petersburg all appeared in the top-10 list of the biggest declines in liveability scores over the last five years.