Karachi at 170: Judged Against the Impossible

By Faheem Ahmed

July 16, 2026 (MLN): When the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Karachi 170th out of 173 cities in its 2026 Global Livability Index, the verdict appeared damning. The headlines wrote themselves: Karachi is among the world's least livable cities.

But before celebrating Vienna or lamenting Karachi, one obvious question deserves to be asked.

What exactly is being compared?

The EIU asks readers to believe that it is simply comparing cities. In reality, it is comparing cities with vastly unequal economic foundations as though they were competing on a level playing field.

Pakistan's nominal GDP per capita is about US$1,600-1,700, placing it around 162nd among roughly 194 countries.

Yet Karachi is expected to compete with cities located in countries whose incomes are thirty to fifty times higher. Vienna, Copenhagen, Zurich, Melbourne and Vancouver are products of economies where governments have had decades to invest billions of dollars in transport, healthcare, education, policing, parks and public services.

Karachi is expected to deliver comparable outcomes with a fraction of those resources.

Apparently, in the EIU's world, a city in one of the world's poorest economies should perform like cities located in some of the world's richest.

If it does not, the conclusion is not that the comparison is flawed; it is that Karachi has failed.

That is not objective benchmarking. It is like asking a marathon runner carrying a 40-kilogram backpack to compete against Olympic athletes, then expressing surprise when he finishes behind them.

The irony becomes even greater when one examines who Karachi is competing against.

The EIU proudly states that it covers 173 cities across nearly 70 countries. Yet the rankings are dominated by cities from the world's wealthiest economies.

The United States alone contributes 21 cities. Western Europe, Australia, Canada and other high-income countries are extensively represented. Pakistan has only one.

So Karachi, representing a country ranked around 162nd in GDP per capita, is effectively being judged against cities drawn largely from countries ranked in the top 20 or 30.

If that sounds less like a comparison of cities and more like a comparison of national wealth, that is because it is.

And this is precisely where the methodology begins to unravel.

Contrary to popular belief, Karachi is not ranked 170th because its infrastructure is the worst in the world. Its infrastructure score is 52 out of 100. Education scores an impressive 75, while healthcare stands at 54.

The real damage comes from stability (20) and culture and environment (36).

Those scores are heavily influenced by Pakistan's national security environment rather than Karachi alone. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2026, Pakistan recorded the highest number of terrorism-related deaths in the world during 2025.

Whether attacks occur hundreds of kilometres away in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan becomes largely irrelevant; Karachi inherits the country's risk profile.

This illustrates a fundamental weakness in the index. It claims to measure cities, but several of its most influential indicators are driven by national conditions over which city governments have little or no control.

Seen from that perspective, the EIU Liveability Index often tells us less about how well a city is governed than about how wealthy and secure its country happens to be.

That is an important distinction—one that disappears in a league table.

About Author:

The writer, Faheem Ahmed is a former Investment banker.

Copyright Mettis Link News