Tehran and Dubai are apparently becoming more "livable" by the year, according to the Global Livability Ranking 2016 by The Economist .
Tehran has shown the highest improvement in its "livability" score in the past five years and Dubai has shown the second highest. Kuwait City has also improved significantly, ranking fifth for overall improvement in livability.
Although Tehran, Dubai and Kuwait City have all improved greatly according to the report, none of the cities rank high overall. Dubai comes in the highest at 74, followed by Kuwait City at 81 and Tehran at 126.
No Middle Eastern cities made it into the top 10 of the most livable cities. Melbourne was ranked No. 1 in the world followed by Vienna, Vancouver and Toronto respectively. Several Middle Eastern and North African cities did make it to the bottom of the list however, with Damascus ranking dead last. Libya's Tripoli came in second to last at 139 and Algiers came in at 134.
"Escalations in hostilities in Libya have prompted a sharp decline in livability in Tripoli as the threat to stability from Islamic State (IS, an extreme global jihadi group) continues to spread across the Middle East and North Africa. Damascus has seen a stabilization in its dramatic decline in livability but remains ranked at the bottom of the 140 cities surveyed," the report says.
The ranking is compiled according to five different categories: stability, healthcare, culture & environment, education, and infrastructure.
While Dubai and other Arab cities may not have fared too well, we're sure a lot of regional locals will eye the ranking with a grain of salt. We know that at least one former Dubai resident, Morgan Carver Richards, would likely push the city up a few spots.