TOP DOG: Barcelona ranked Spain’s most liveable city and 30th best in world

BARCELONA has beaten Madrid to be crowned Spain’s ‘most liveable’ city, as a list of the world’s top 50 is released.

Madrid comes in at number 39, scoring 90.9%, while Barcelona placed 30th on 92.5% in the annual global habitability index compiled by the The Economist Intelligence Unit.

The five criteria used to calculate each city’s score were stability, education, culture and environment, health and infrastructure.

Both Spanish cities had identical scores for the first three categories, but Barcelona edged ahead with better health and infrastructure rankings than Madrid.

London only made it to number 48 (89.1%) on the list, as Spain’s most liveable urban areas also placed higher than Ireland’s best city, Dublin, which finished 41 (90.7%).

Manchester is the most liveable British city at number 35, ahead of Madrid, with a habitability score of 91.3%.

Australia, Canada and Japan dominate the top 10, but the number one spot goes to Vienna, Austria, which received a near-perfect score of 99.1%.