High crime, deteriorating infrastructure, and pollution are just a few of the issues that cause KARACHI to make the news for all the wrong reasons. The fact that the capital of Sindh is listed as one of the least livable cities in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit may not come as a surprise as a result. Out of 173 cities, Karachi has fallen to a dismal 169th place in 2023. For the previous few years, the city has constantly appeared at the bottom of this list.
Out of a total of 173 cities, Karachi is placed 169th on the EIU’s Global Liveability Index 2023. Only four cities are ranked lower than Karachi: Lagos, Algiers, Tripoli, and Damascus.Karachi is the only city in Pakistan that is listed on the index, incidentally.Karachi gets a less-than-ideal total score of 42.5. With a score of 20, which is identical to 2022, it did the worst on the stability indicator, indicating that little has changed over the past year. It received a 50 on the healthcare scale, a 38.7 on the environment and culture scale, a 75 on education, and a 51.8 on infrastructure.The city’s performance history on the EIU’s index is also not great. Karachi was listed 136th out of 140 cities in the ranking back in 2019, and there was no report released in 2020. It was ranked 134th out of 140 cities in 2022.The index measures living circumstances based on five categories, including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, and it concentrates on the post-Covid recovery of cities around the world.
The livability factor is scored and evaluated on a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 is deemed intolerable and 100 is regarded optimal.There is a history behind consistently receiving this shady label. Despite being the country’s economic hub, both the federal and provincial governments have always treated Karachi unfairly. When the ‘field marshal,’ who was not renowned for being a big fan of the city, opted to move the capital further north, it’s possible that the rot began to set in. Since then, Karachi has suffered as a result of the state’s inability to keep up with the demand for amenities and services as the city’s population has increased and urban sprawl has grown dramatically. This has caused the city to become a difficult-to-navigate urban jungle that is among the least livable cities. Perhaps this offers Murtaza Wahab, the recently elected mayor of Karachi, a significant opportunity to alter these unfavourable opinions. The greatest way to do this is not by public relations initiatives, but rather by providing Karachi with the resources and local government authority needed for it to turn into a livable megacity for the twenty-first century. While it is true that the KMC does not have administrative control over a sizable portion of the city; instead, these areas are managed by federal agencies and the military, the mayor can make a compelling case for regaining administrative control of the entire city by managing the portions of it that fall under his purview in a model manner. Mayor Wahab shouldn’t have any justifications for not having the authority to rule Karachi given that his party controls the provincial government.
