New Delhi Aug 14 (IANS) The Austrian capital of Vienna is ranked first in the Economist Intelligence Units (EIU) latest Global Liveability Survey released on Tuesday which found 68 cities to have improved their rankings over the last year with declines in just nine cities.
Four of these nine cities which have declined in rank are in Asia - Kuala Lumpur Kathmandu Colombo and Dhaka - the Britain-based Economist magazine said.
"Their fall largely reflects an impact on culture and environment indicators. Increasing pollution is another factor affecting liveability in the region especially in South Asia " the statement said.
While Kathmandu fell two positions to 129th place due to deteriorating air quality Dhaka which has been the lowest ranked city in Asia for over a decade also saw a further decline in liveability rating for increasing air pollution originating primarily from the brick kilns on the outskirts of the city it added.
New Delhi at 112 rank topped among six South Asian cities with Mumbai following at position 117.
Besides Dhaka at 139 Karachi at No. 137 is the other South Asian city among the bottom ten scoring cities in the ranking.
"Stability remains the key factor in defining the lowest-scoring locations in the (Asian) region. After seven years at the top Melbourne displaced by Vienna as the most liveable city " the statement said.
According to the EIU survey global liveability has improved for the second year in a row from 74.8 per cent last year to 75.7 per cent at present led by a 2.9 per cent improvement in stability.
The annual list assesses stability healthcare culture environment education and infrastructure in 140 different cities.

--IANS bc/ahm/bg