IT comes as no surprise. Karachi — Pakistan’s largest city, its financial engine and home to over 20m people — has been recognised globally as one of the most unliveable cities in the world. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2026 Global Liveability Index, Karachi ranks 170th out of 173 cities surveyed worldwide. Only Tripoli, Dhaka and Damascus rank lower — Damascus, a city still clawing its way out of a civil war. Sadly, that is the company Karachi now keeps. The overall score given to Karachi, 43 out of 100, places it just three points above the threshold of what the EIU defines as acceptable conditions. On stability, Karachi scores just 20 out of 100 — a score that it shares with war-ravaged Damascus. The metric, which is a measure of the prevalence of petty and violent crime, the threat of terrorism, civil unrest and conflict, is one of the heaviest-weighted categories in the entire index, worth a quarter of a city’s total score.
On education, Karachi scores a much more respectable 75 out of 100. This contrast is what underlines the city’s despair. Karachi has functioning schools, real institutions and human capital that continue to be undermined almost entirely by the failure of its governing authorities to guarantee citizens’ physical security and civic order. Even on healthcare (54) and infrastructure (52), Karachi gets scores that are mediocre, but survivable. It is insecurity, primarily, that has made it an undesirable place to live in, according to the EIU. One wonders whether those ruling the city will take note of these figures or continue to try and drown out all criticism with denial. The citizenry cannot be expected to go on living with this sense of insecurity forever. Anyone residing in Karachi will testify that the city’s policing is generally inept and mostly unhelpful. Even something as basic as reporting a crime can be a nightmare unless one knows the ‘right’ people. Things cannot continue like this. Karachi needs administrative intervention, and it needs it urgently.
Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2026
