Dhaka, Bangladesh 4th ‘Least Liveable City On Earth’ ?

Each year different league tables are constructed by western ‘analysts’ on how different countries are performing in relation to each other. The latest report by the The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking provides scores for lifestyle challenges in 140 cities. Jon Copestake, editor of the report, said: ‘The latest rankings paint a very somber picture. We are seeing greater instability around the world including unrest in the U.S., political disruption in Turkey and Thailand and geopolitical disputes in Eastern Europe and Asia.’ According to the report Dhaka sits 4^th from the bottom of the table at 137^th place. I am skeptical about the point of such reports. There always seems to be an implication that a low ranking country is inferior to the rest of the world. There is never any analysis of loaded trade arrangements and the roles of multi-national companies in the economies of poorer countries. There is no analysis of the causes of global inequality.

I’ve always found Dhaka a welcoming and civilized place of culture. The poorest struggle to survive and the rich have an easy time but to describe it as one of the ‘least liveable’ places on earth is, to say the least, simplistic and an injustice.

The students in the photograph (above) were planting, with scores of other pupils, hundreds of trees as part of their practical education in sustainability and flood prevention.