Four Australian Cities Rank Among World’s 10 Best

Which cities are the best to live in? It depends, but according to one highly regarded ranking, four Australian cities make the grade into the world’s top 10 this year.

They are Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.

The annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit has placed Vancouver in the number one slot for the fifth straight year. Melbourne took second place, Sydney seventh and Auckland 10th in the list, which ranks 30 aspects of life such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, personal safety and infrastructure. Perth and Adelaide were ranked eighth, equal. Three Canadian cities also made the top 10.

A list of liveable cities is not the same as a list of favourite cities to visit, though there are many parallels. Factors like health care and education are more important to city residents than to visitors who may be in a city for only a few days and who have travel insurance.

For what it’s worth, here are the 10 most liveable cities out of 140 major ones worldwide, as ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit and – just as importantly – the world’s least liveable cities. The latter tend to be congested, poor, dirty and dangerous.

Top of the list:

1. Vancouver, Canada

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Vienna, Austria

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Calgary, Canada

6. Helsinki, Finland

7. Sydney, Australia

8. (equal) Perth, Australia

8. (equal) Adelaide, Australia

10. Auckland, New Zealand

Bottom of the list:

1. Harare, Zimbabwe

2. Dhaka , Bangladesh

3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

4. Lagos, Nigeria

5. Algiers , Algeria

6. Karachi, Pakistan

7. Douala, Cameroon

8. Tehran, Iran

9. Dakar, Senegal

10. Colombo, Sri Lanka

Paris was 16th on the list, London 53rd and New York 56th. The most highly ranked US city was Pittsburgh, in 29th place. The top Asian city was Osaka (12th) tying with Geneva.

UK media quoted a statement by Jon Copestake, editor of the report: “Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion.”

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