Singapore has fallen behind Hong Kong in global livability.

Singapore has been ranked as the 37th most livable city in the world in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Livability Index, down two spots from its previous ranking.

The city-state was overtaken by Hong Kong by a marginal difference of 0.1 percent, as it settled in 35th place.

Hong Kong’s ranking fell significantly in 2015 due to heightened concerns of unrest as part of the Umbrella Revolution and was even surpassed by Singapore for the first time last year.

Despite the drop in its ranking, Singapore registered the highest possible score in the public healthcare category this year.

A part of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, EIU’s livability rating assigns scores to 140 cities based on healthcare, stability, education, infrastructure as well as culture and environment, reported Channel NewsAsia.

Melbourne has been overtaken by Vienna for the first time in seven years as the world’s most livable city.

“A long-running contender to the title, Vienna has succeeded in displacing Melbourne from the top spot due to increases in the Austrian capital’s stability category ratings,” said EIU, referring to one of the five headline components in the index.

Vienna’s low crime rate and a downgraded threat of militant attacks in Western Europe helped push the city to first place.

“While in the past couple of years cities in Europe were affected by the spreading perceived threat of terrorism in the region, which caused heightened security measures, the past year has seen a return to normalcy.”

Osaka, Calgary and Sydney rounded off the top five list in the survey, while Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Lagos in Nigeria and Syria’s Damascus occupied the last three spots.

Romesh Navaratnarajah