A period of relative stability has put the Iranian capital No1 on the list of world cities that have achieved biggest improvements in liveability over the past five years, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The “most improved” top 10 contains some unexpected names. So, eg, the fourth place: Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Latest ranking: 128; Ranking five years ago: 131; Five-year index movement: 3.8%. Here: A supporter of Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara campaigns in a market in the city’s Koumassi quarter. (Photo by Sia Kambou/AFP Photo)

A muddied family photograph sits on a hallway stairwell in an apartment block on March 17, 2011 in Kensennuma, Japan. Residents were allowed back to their homes today and began the massive cleanup operation caused by a 9.0 magnitude strong earthquake that struck on March 11 off the coast of north-eastern Japan. The quake triggered a tsunami wave of up to 10 metres which engulfed large parts of north-eastern Japan. The death toll has risen past 5000 with at least 8600 people still missing. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

English pop singer Shane Fenton, later known as Alvin Stardust, autographing a woman's leg in his dressing room. (Photo by John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images). September 1962

A tourist poses for a picture with the Sphinx at the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt, on October 19, 2011. (Reuters/Jamal Saidi)

Machu Picchu, Peru. A llama’s-eye view of the legendary Inca settlement at Machu Picchu, isolated high in the Peruvian Andes. (Photo by Jim Turner/National Geographic)

Boeing 747-400 of KLM in approach for the “Princess Juliana” airport, Netherlands Antilles Sint Maarten on July 2, 2002. (Photo by LUPOO/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

Drivers push cars to gas station during “oil crisis”, Roslindale, Boston, Massachusetts, 1973. (Photo by Spencer Grant/Getty Images)

Nyaueth by Peter Zelewski – £2,000 third prize winner. This was taken near London’s Oxford Street as part of Zelewski’s series Beautiful Strangers. Zelewski explains: ‘The aim of Beautiful Strangers is to challenge the concept of traditional beauty with a series of spontaneous street portraits of everyday citizens who show character, uniqueness and a special inner quality’. (Photo by Peter Zelewski/Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2015)