Healthcare to blame after Calgary drops 13 spots in global liveability ranking: report

A report ranking the world’s most liveable cities says Calgary’s fight to become the best of the best is being dampened by one particular issue: healthcare.

The EIU’s Liveability Index Report for 2025, released this week, names Calgary as the city which fell the fastest and farthest down the rankings in the last 12 months.

In the 2024 iteration, Calgary was ranked fifth overall. This year, it plummeted to 18th.

According to the EIU, it’s because of the strain the city’s healthcare system is facing, but Calgary isn’t alone with other Canadian cities included in the survey also going down in ranking due to the same reason.

For some Calgarians, not only is that not a surprise, but it’s something they’ve experienced.

“My mom had stomach pain and had to go to the emergency room, was not given a chance to meet the doctor, and they asked her to wait for 24 hours,” says Calgarian Roman Qasmi.

In a statement to CityNews, the province says, “the report refers vaguely to ‘strains on the national health service,’ but offers no specific data to justify Calgary’s ranking drop.”

The statement also notes an increase of nearly 300 physicians in Calgary, more primary care providers accepting patients in the city, and Alberta adding more hospital beds to reduce ER wait times.

Healthcare was one of five categories the survey grades cities on, with stability, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, the others.

“We know what an amazing city Calgary is,” says Megan Zimmerman, VP of trade & invester experience for Calgary Economic Development. “The opportunity here is tremendous, just ask the 100,000 people that moved here last year.”

“We know the affordability here is second-to-none, particularly in Canada, when we look at some of the other major Canadian cities. We can’t be defined by one ranking.”

While Calgary went down on the list its overall index is still very high, something Calgarians are still proud of.

“The people are very nice,” says Calgarian Paul Bowen. “Lots of cultural variety in terms of restaurants, right here we are adjacent to Chinatown, so we get lots of good food there and lots of nice parades and things, lots of park area, so I think it’s very livable.”

Other Canadian cities included in the list also saw decreased scores that largely stemmed from healthcare issues.

Toronto fell from 12th to 16th place, while Vancouver rounds out the top 10 in the final spot.

The EIU’s index assesses 173 cities around the globe on 30 indicators, including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

Copenhagen has claimed the top spot on the list, unseating Vienna after three years. Copenhagen got perfect scores of 100 for stability, education and infrastructure, moving up from second place to become the world’s most comfortable city to live in, the EIU says.

In contrast, Damascus sits in the bottom spot, with a score of 20 for stability, 29.2 for healthcare, and 33.3 for education.