Melbourne has been crowned the world’s most liveable city for the seventh consecutive year by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Liveability index.

The index surveys 140 world cities, assigning them rank based on five categories – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Australia has claimed three of the top-scoring cities in the survey, with Adelaide and Perth ranked fifth and seventh respectively after Melbourne. Others ranked within the top ten include Vienna (second place), Vancouver (third), Helsinki (ninth) and Hamburg (tenth), while those that have most improved in the last five years include Tehran, Dubai, Harare and Colombo.

The report states that there is a correlation between the types of cities that are most highly ranked, describing them as “mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with relatively low population density.” Big cities such as New York, London, Paris and Tokyo  are “victims of their own success” with overstretched infrastructure, congestion, public transport issues and higher crime rates. However, these destinations still sit within the “highest tier” of liveability, especially when compared with the worst-scoring cities, which include Kiev, Karachi, Dhaka, Tripoli and Damascus.

Commissioner for Victoria to the UK and Europe, Ken Ryan, credited Melbourne’s status to its growth in technology and innovation.

“Melbourne continues to build its global reputation as not only the world’s most liveable city, but as one of the Asian region’s leading destinations for advanced manufacturing, defence capability, financial services and technology. Melbourne is continuing to grow as a major trading and investment centre for the region.”

It also scores high for student desirability, producing the highest number of technical graduates in the country, and is Australia’s fastest growing city, predicted to overtake Sydney as the country’s largest by 2030.

Kourtney Webb