Every year, The Economist Intelligence Unit puts out its list of city livability. This covers 173 cities around the world. Damascus is the worst city to live in this year, with a much worse score than any other on the list. (These 26 countries have the worst press freedom.)
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The yardsticks for the study are stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. The list has a single goal. “The liveability survey was designed to help companies calculate hardship allowances for staff who were moving to a new—and possibly less tolerable—city.” Cities receive scores of 1 to 100.

Damascus has a score of 30.7. The next worst city on the list is Tripoli at 40.1. By contrast, the city at the top of the list is Vienna, with a score of 98.4.

Damascus is the capital of Syria and one of the oldest cities in the world. It has a population of 2.5 million. The city has drawn the brunt of a military conflict with Israel. The city is also the home of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who is known as the “Butcher of Damascus” because he allegedly is the architect of the death of 500,000 people.

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Syria itself is in great turmoil. According to The World Factbook, “As of early 2022, approximately 6.66 million Syrians were internally displaced and 14.6 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance across the country.”

Syria is remarkably poor. Its gross domestic product per capita of $2,900 places it 198th among all nations. Eight out of 10 people there live below the poverty line.

Given the current situation in Damascus, it will not be rising on the list of city livability anytime soon.

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