Urban lifestyle magazine Monocle released the 12th edition of its Quality of Life Survey. Cited by Forbes, the list of the 25 most livable cities in the world placed Munich in Germany first, followed by Tokyo, Vienna and Zürich. The list also contains several other German cities, including Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf, but also many North European cities, such as Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo. No city in an East European country was listed.

Monocleʼs most livable cities ranking is similar to the Mercer list published earlier this year, where the top three cities in terms of the best quality of living were Vienna, Zürich and Munich. In the East European region, Budapest ranked 76th on the Mercer list, preceded by Prague (69th) and Ljubljana (75th).

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga on Tuesday revealed the issues that were discussed at the latest meeting of the National Competitiveness Council. By 2030, Hungary wishes to be among the top five European countries “worth living and working in,” Varga said, cited by online current affairs site hvg.hu. He also commented on the latest inflation figures, noting that the government counts on a rate of about 3% for the whole year.

Varga admitted that the level of bureaucracy in Hungary is among the highest among the Visegrád countries. The government is analyzing solutions to ensure the same quality of public services with a smaller public administration, he added.