Vancouver was ranked the top city in the Americas for retirement. Here's why.

A man is silhouetted as he uses a stick while walking on Ambleside Beach at sunset in West Vancouver, on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Vancouver is one of the best places in the world for retirees, a just-released study suggests.

Those behind the retirement index say they looked at a "range of factors," including life expectancy and health-care costs, and ranked the West Coast city among the world's best.

The ranking from Veolar, a company that sells health supplements with a mission statement about living longer lives, puts Vancouver in the 29th spot overall.

Other factors that led to this placement included city infrastructure and accessibility, as well as culture, public parks, events for seniors and other categories under the heading of "liveability."

Of the Canadian cities that made the list, Vancouver was first, followed by Toronto then Montreal. No other locations in Canada were included in the top 100.

According to those behind the study, the cities were picked based on existing data and "socioeconomic indicators of elderly welfare." This data was pulled from international organizations, public surveys, crowdsourcing and other sources.

Overall, the cities that did best were: Tokyo, Japan; Wellington, New Zealand; Singapore, Singapore; Paris, France; and Vienna, Austria.

Wellington, Singapore and Vienna were also in the top five for financial security, as were Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

But filtering the results to show only North and South America, Vancouver came out on top.

The city scored high in categories including accessibility of health care, financial security, air quality, safety and "healthy longevity."

Where it got lower marks was in ease of travel, museums, public parks and spaces and, unsurprisingly, housing. These scores were all above 60 out of 100, but none of the cities included in the ranking had a score below 50, so they are among the lower marks that made the cut.

Toronto and Montreal were in second and third, followed by the U.S. cities of Honolulu and Austin. Seattle, Chicago, Boston, San Diego and San Antonio rounded out the top 10.

Vancouver also held the top spot when ranking the results by air quality and healthy longevity, and tied with the another Canadians in accessibility to health care, financial security and legacy management.

It was in the bottom 12 for ease of travel, the category in which the city saw its lowest score.

The ranking was released the day after Statistics Canada's 2021 population census showed that seven B.C. cities were home to the country's oldest average populations. 

All of those communities were on Vancouver Island except for the Southern Gulf Islands and Osoyoos.

StatCan's findings included that B.C. is also home to the municipality with the largest proportion of working-aged people. That community is Whistler.

Vancouver, Metro Vancouver Area A (including UBC, the University Endowment Lands, Barnston Island, Howe Sound communities and Indian Arm/Pitt Lake), New Westminster, Fort St. John and Revelstoke also have large working-aged populations.