9 Mar 2010, 0000 hrs IST

India News: NEW DELHI, India: Despite all its problems, Delhi offers the best quality of life to its residents among all cities in the country, according to a 'Liveability Index' released by CII. In the index, based on surveys, Delhi outscores metros like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata; NCR towns Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad; and even planned cities like Chandigarh.

Delhi ranks first on parameters like population density, safety, transport, education, job opportunities and accidents. The only redline in the capital's card is healthcare, where the city is ranked 17th. Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kolkata score high on this front.

Among NCR cities, Gurgaon ranks ninth in the list — it tops the chart on housing and educational facilities but lags behind due to lack of job opportunities, high crime, and unsafe roads and public transport. Noida ranks 27th due to poor healthcare, crime rate, no public transport and high rate of accidents.

'Liveability Index' released by the Confederation of Indian Industry, while terming Delhi as the best city to live in, stated that the worst city in NCR is Faridabad with a rank of 32. The city needs upgradation of employment opportunities, public transport, roads, migration and healthcare.

Delhi also scores relatively low (12th) on migration. But cities like Indore, Pune, Chandigarh, Goa, Bangalore, Jaipur and Faridabad are far worse at ranks 37, 35, 34, 33, 32, 29 and 28, respectively.

After Delhi, the next best cities to live in, according to the survey, are Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, in that order. The bottom rankers in the index are Jamshedpur (ranked 37th), Visakhapatnam (36th), Patna (35th), Lucknow (34th) and Ludhiana (33rd). The survey studied 37 Indian cities over a decade to deduce a Quality of Life index. "The study uses hard data collected from reliable sources to eliminate the possibility of personal bias or a sampling error obscuring the reality," said an official.