Melbourne is the most liveable city in the world for the fifth year running, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit global survey.
The EIU Liveability Index compares 140 of the world’s major cities on five criteria: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said Melbourne had excelled in all five categories.
“We should be very proud of our city being named World’s Most Liveable City for the fifth year in a row. It is unprecedented for Melbourne and is particularly pleasing in a year when the Economist Intelligence Unit notes that many cities lost ground,” he said.
“We must be doing something right in our cities in this part of the world: half of the top 10 most liveable cities are in Australia and New Zealand.”
Melbourne placed first ahead of Vienna, Vancouver and Toronto. Adelaide was rated equal fifth most liveable city, tied with Calgary, Canada. Sydney and Perth were ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.
City of Melbourne chief executive Ben Rimmer said being named the world’s most liveable city was a testament to Melbourne’s economic, cultural and social opportunities.
“Liveability matters to the people of Melbourne, but it’s about much more than quality of life,” he said. “Through our higher standard of living we are able to attract the kind of talent and workforce that will drive the 21st century economy.”
Premier Daniel Andrews said Melbourne was the only country in the world to get the title five times.
He said it was a sign the city was headed in the right direction.
“Melbourne has the best of everything and this title proves it,” he said. “This is an achievement all Victorians can be proud of.”
The EIU index is just one of a number of rankings put out each year, though.
Most recently Monocle’s Quality of Life Survey put Tokyo in the number one spot, with Melbourne and Sydney on fourth and fifth place respectively.
Melbourne didn’t even get a look in on the Mercer’s Quality of Living Ranking top ten this year, with Vienna taking first position and Melbourne down at 16. Sydney just made the cut at number 10.
Wow am I glad that Melbourne won, now all those people stupid enough to believe in these sort of things will go and live there and not where I live keeping it the most liveable place on the planet- which is a secret- I am not stupid enough to tell others!!
Am I beginning to sense an Anglo-Saxon bias to the “World’s Most Livable Cities Index”…. Am I alone? How can Copenhagen not be number 1?
Isn’t the ranking actually meant to reflect the inverse; that is, which cities are least livable for an English businessman and should thereby receive a bonus for living in …Luanda or Windhoek or Lima or …
Shouldn’t the correct reaction be more one of “Whew…I am so lucky and fortunate” rather than chest-beating pride. This only leads to a smug resting on laurels.
I am very familiar with three of these cities, lucky me, but all of them have plenty of hard work ahead to become walkable, loveable, dense-enough, transit-oriented, low-carbon, tree-lined places filled with opportunity for all.
Well all I can say is that it can’t have had much to beat. A sprawling city with lousy public transport, infill housing of appalling quality, and apart from some outstanding architects contributing to liveability and affordability, virtually no sense of aesthetic or material endurance being built. We can do so much better.