Melbourne again tops Economist's world most liveable cities index

Australian cities have once again been named among the world’s most liveable, with Melbourne topping the international index produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the fourth consecutive year.

The Victorian capital beat 139 other cities to top the list, while Adelaide (5th), Sydney (7th) and Perth (9th) also made the top 10, which is identical to last year’s.

Melbourne achieved perfect scores of 100 in the healthcare, education and infrastructure categories, as well as in the sub-category of sport. It also performed well in the other criteria of stability, and culture and environment.

At the other end of the table, many of the lowest scores are in areas of conflict. As the report explains, this is partly due to low scores for stability, but also because factors defining stability have an adverse effect on other scores: “Conflict will not just cause disruption in its own right, it will also damage infrastructure, overburden hospitals, and undermine the availability of goods, services and recreational activities.”

The world’s top 10 cities for liveability

1. Melbourne, Australia

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Vancouver, Canada

4. Toronto, Canada

=5. Adelaide, Australia

=5. Calgary, Canada

7. Sydney, Australia

8. Helsinki, Finland

9. Perth, Australia

10. Auckland, New Zealand

The world’s bottom 10 cities for liveability

131. Abidjan, Ivory Coast

132. Tripoli, Libya

133. Douala, Cameroon

134. Harare, Zimbabwe

135. Algiers, Algeria

136. Karachi, Pakistan

137. Lagos, Nigeria

138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

139. Dhaka, Bangladesh

140. Damascus, Syria