Karachi’s Liveability Crisis Deepens as EIU Ranking Sparks Alarm
Karachi’s continuing struggle with urban decay returned to national attention on Tuesday after fresh visuals highlighted why Pakistan’s largest city remains among the world’s least liveable urban centres. The report focused on daily-life conditions across the metropolis following its low placement in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2026.
According to the ranking, Karachi stood 170th out of 173 cities, placing it above only Dhaka, Tripoli and Damascus. The city received an overall score of 43 out of 100, reflecting persistent weaknesses in stability, healthcare, culture and environment, and infrastructure, despite performing comparatively better in education.
The images showed familiar scenes for Karachi residents: piles of uncollected garbage, dug-up roads, traffic bottlenecks, open drainage channels, construction disruption and poor civic conditions. These visuals underscored how liveability is not an abstract global ranking but a daily reality affecting commuters, families, workers and businesses across the city.
The EIU evaluates cities through indicators linked to stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, culture and environment. Karachi’s lowest score was in stability, while infrastructure and health-related indicators also remained weak, pointing to long-running governance and service-delivery challenges rather than a single temporary failure.
Officials have often promised major improvements through transport projects, road rehabilitation, drainage schemes and waste-management reforms. However, the pace of visible change remains uneven, and residents continue to face broken roads, overflowing drains, extended traffic delays, electricity outages and sanitation problems in many neighbourhoods.
Karachi’s difficulties are rooted in decades of rapid population growth, fragmented administration and underinvestment in basic services. As Pakistan’s financial and commercial hub, the city generates major economic activity, yet its municipal systems have struggled to keep pace with its expanding population and rising pressure on housing, transport, water and waste disposal.
The Red Line Bus Rapid Transit construction, pipeline work and other infrastructure projects are meant to improve mobility and service delivery in the long term. In the short term, however, poorly managed construction zones and dug-up roads have added to public frustration, especially for daily commuters who already spend hours navigating congestion.
The city’s liveability crisis has national implications because Karachi remains central to Pakistan’s trade, ports, banking, industry and employment. When transport systems slow down, waste accumulates, utilities fail and public spaces deteriorate, the impact is felt not only by residents but also by businesses, investors and the wider economy.
The latest ranking should serve as a warning for policymakers that Karachi requires coordinated, sustained and transparent urban reform. Without stronger local governance, reliable funding, better planning and measurable service delivery, the city risks remaining trapped near the bottom of global liveability rankings despite its economic importance and social energy.