Canadian Cities Among World’s Best Places to Live – Again!
Three Canadian cities were ranked among the top ten “Most Livable Cities in the World” by the respected Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its most recent annual ranking of 140 global cities which was released in August 2013. Vancouver, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, was rated by the EIU as the third “Most Livable City in the World” while Toronto, Ontario, was listed in 4th place and Calgary, Alberta, tied with the Australian city of Adelaide for being the 5th best city to live on Earth. What is amazing, but not surprising, is that Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary were also in the EIU’s “top ten” list in 2012 and 2011. Therefore, if you are considering Canadian immigration and looking for some great places to live after you are approved for a Permanent Resident (PR) Visa to Canada, you may want to move to Vancouver, Toronto or Calgary!
As in its previous evaluations in 2011 and 2012, the 2013 EIU assessment of 140 cities around the globe ranked each city on a scale of 0-100 (with 100 being a perfect score) which was based upon 30 “livability” factors that were grouped into five key categories (culture and environment; education; healthcare; infrastructure; and stability). Vancouver received an almost perfect score of 97.3 in 2013 which was just barely ahead of Toronto which was awarded 97.2 points out of 100 points possible. Calgary was given an impressive score by the EIU researchers of 96.6. It should be noted that there was a fraction of a difference in the scores given to the top four “Most Livable Cities in the World” by the EIU researchers (#1 Melbourne, Australia = 97.5; #2 Vienna, Austria = 97.4; #3 Vancouver, Canada = 97.3 and #4 Toronto, Canada = 97.2).
By offering its residents some of the highest standards of living found anywhere in the world, it is no wonder that Canadian immigration is so popular. In 2012, for example, 257,515 foreign nationals from every region of the Earth were issued a PR Visa to Canada and many of these Canadian newcomers chose to move to Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. In fact, 2,537,400 of the six million people living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were approved for Canadian immigration, representing 32.8% of all the foreign-born residents living in Canada. If you are approved for a PR Visa to Canada, you could also experience the high standard of living enjoyed by Canadian citizens and permanent residents!