Life is broadly improving in most major cities, according to the latest Global Liveability Index, which has just recorded its highest average score for 15 years.

Once again, Vienna topped the index, with Copenhagen and Melbourne coming in second and third respectively. London was ranked 46th.

“Vienna continues to offer an unsurpassed combination of stability, good infrastructure, strong education and healthcare services, and plenty of culture and entertainment, with one of its few downsides being a relative lack of major sporting events,” said the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which compiles the index. “The same is true of Copenhagen, another frequent high performer that has kept its position in second place.”

Rating cities for liveability is a tricky business, but one the EIU tasks itself with each year. It assesses 172 cities across five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

The EIU noted that that the average index score for cities this year reached 76.2 out of 100 – a 15 year high. Healthcare scores improved the most, with smaller gains for education, culture and entertainment, and infrastructure. Only stability saw a marginal decline, reflecting instances of civil unrest in many cities amid a cost-of-living crisis, as well as an uptick in crime in some cities.

The EIU said that its findings offered cause for “optimism amid instability”. However, that’s perhaps not the case for people living in the UK, which saw its cities slide down the index. The biggest fallers were Edinburgh, Manchester and London, which slumped 23, 16 and 12 places respectively.