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Vienna has been ranked the most liveable city in the world for the 10th year in a row, The Independent reports.

The Austrian capital topped the new Mercer Quality of Living Survey, whose 2019 ranking was dominated by European cities. Thirteen out of the world’s 20 best places to live are in Europe.

Zurich, Switzerland's biggest city, came in second place for overall quality of living, followed by Auckland, Munich and Vancouver in joint third place. The Canadian city has ranked the highest of any North American city over the past decade.

Mercer's annual index ranks 231 cities around the world on factors including political stability, crime, personal freedoms, healthcare, education, housing, recreation and public transport.

Western European cities also dominated the safest cities rankings. Luxembourg was named as the safest city in the world, followed by Helsinki in Finland and the Swiss cities of Basel, Bern and Zurich.

In terms of overall quality of living, Singapore (25), Montevideo in Uruguay (78) and Mauritius’s Port Louis (83) were the highest ranking cities in Asia, South America and Africa respectively.

Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, came in 170th place in the list. Among its neghboring cities, Istanbul was ranked 130th, Tbilisi – 187th, Baku – 195th and Tehran – 199th.

At the other end of the scale, Iraqi capital Baghdad was ranked at the bottom of the list. However, Mercer noted that the city had seen significant improvements relating to safety and health services, CNBC reports.

Venezuelan capital Caracas came in 202nd place, with researchers flagging that its living standards had dropped due to its current economic and political instability.