Wellington ranked 23rd Best

A branch of The Economist Magazine - The Economist Intelligence Unit – has recently published a survey highlighting the standard of living in 140 cities hosting international sporting events and there are two New Zealand cities in the top 25. Auckland is ranked at number 10 with Wellington following 13 places behind at number 23.

The EIU survey ranked the 140 cities on 30 factors, from healthcare, culture and environment, to education, surveying resident experts and utilising its own analysts. I am pleased to note that Wellington scored perfectly in the education category! However Wellington scored lower than Auckland and the Australian cities listed in most other categories.

Wellington’s Mayor, Kerry Prendergast, has challenged our lower score in the Culture and Environment category, as Wellington is widely hailed as the creative capital of New Zealand and there are plans in place for the city to become carbon-neutral within two years. She is quoted as saying that the arenas where Wellington lagged were largely due to the city’s relative size - Big cities such as Auckland have more healthcare facilities and larger pockets of cultural diversity simply because of their sizeable populations.

While lagging 13 places behind Auckland might be a slightly bitter pill to swallow as Wellingtonians, it is worth considering that the EIU survey ranked 140 different cities, and with that in mind, I can safely say that 23rd place is definitely something to be proud of. Major cities such as London and New York came in at 54 and 56 respectively while Wellington is in the same league as Copenhagen, Brisbane, and Paris.