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This list seems awful. How is Istanbul ranked this low? Almost all Chinese cities seem incredibly underrated, Beijing and Shanghai on a level with Athens, some of the top 'second tier' cities on par with Latin American cities? Dubai and Abu Dhabi as 'livable', not for the workers there, that's for sure. If you wanted to put a positive spin on it you can say the Economist knows its readership very well.

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Have you ever lived in Istanbul? I've lived there for more than 20 years and I'm not surprised that it is ranked low. Terrible traffic (which makes people angry overall), huge sprawl and population, lots and lots of other problems.

Yep I have and it were some of the most fun times of my life. Every 10 million pop. city has terrible traffic and problems, including those high on that list, and all of their residents think they suck in some sense.

But unlike a lot of the high income expat enclaves the Economist chose to put up in the rankings Istanbul also has genuine culture. It's the most actually cosmopolitan city in the world as far as I'm concerned.

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