Key Points
- Melbourne is the world's third most liveable city, and Sydney is the fourth.
- The ranking of the world's most liveable cities for 2023 has been released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
- Perth and Adelaide also made significant moves.
Melbourne has beaten Sydney by one ranking in the age-old battle of the most liveable city, according to the June 2023 liveability survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The Victorian capital shot up to third behind Vienna and Copenhagen, and Sydney also jumped several places to fourth.
Last year Melbourne was in tenth place, and Sydney was in 13th due to the slow lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and stressed healthcare systems, but their rise was due to their improved healthcare rankings.
Other Australian cities made huge moves - Perth moved up 21 places to sit in 12th position while Adelaide moved 19 places to also sit in 12th.
Three cities in Canada, two in Switzerland, and Osaka and Auckland comprise the rest of the top ten.
A graph depicting the top 10 most liveable cities globally in 2023, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Source: SBS News
Affordability was not assessed.
Each city is given an index score aggregate out of 100.
Overall, Asian cities made much more significant gains in index scores than other regions and accounted for some of the highest-ranking moves by cities.
Many Western European cities slipped down the rankings due to falls in stability points because of workers' strikes, civil unrest and a rise in crime associated with the rising cost of living.
The EIU said it does not expect global stability scores to recover quickly, noting rising inflation and fuel and commodity prices, likely leading to further unrest.
Edinburgh and Stockholm made the most dramatic falls down the rankings, moving 23 and 22 places, respectively.
Los Angeles and San Diego also moved down significantly, as did Manchester and London.
"None of these cities has seen a particularly sharp decline in their index scores, but they have failed to make the gain that many other cities, particularly those in Asia, have made in the past year," the EIU said in a statement.
War-ravaged Ukrainian capital Kyiv is sitting in the bottom 10 places but it's not the lowest-ranked city- that would be Damascus in Syria, which has been held back in global rankings by social unrest, terrorism and conflict.
Tripoli, Algier, Lagos and Karachi round out the bottom five due to low scores on healthcare and stability.
Kyiv was not included in the 2022 survey following Russia's invasion, and the survey notes its infrastructure and stability have been heavily damaged.
Melbourne held the title of the world’s most liveable city for seven years from 2011 before it was unseated in 2018 by the Austrian capital, Vienna.
