World’s Most Livable City: Melbourne, Australia Named Most Livable City For Fifth Year In A Row

Melbourne, Australia has been named the world’s most livable city for the fifth year in a row.

Every year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) shares a list titled Global Liveability Ranking. The list shows scores for lifestyle challenges in 140 cities worldwide, and is based on a variety of factors including: health care, education, culture, environment and infrastructure.

Since 2010, the report shows, that the liveability across the world has fallen 1 percent due to a decline in stability and safety. The report also explains that the past 12 months have marked an increase in global instability.

“While this may seem marginal, it highlights that 57 of the cities surveyed have seen declines in liveability over the last five years,” the report reads. “Incidences of terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia have been compounded by civil unrest in the US and ongoing conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Libya.”

Below is a list of the top five most livable cities in the world:

1. Melbourne, Australia (97.5)

2. Vienna, Australia (97.4)

3. Vancouver, Canada (97.3)

4. Toronto, Canada (97.2)

5. Adelaide, Australia, tied with Calgary, Canada (96.6)

Below is a list of the top five least most livable cities in the world:

1. Tripoli, Libya (40)

2. Lagos, Nigeria (39.7)

3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (38.9)

4. Dhaka, Bangladesh (38.7)

5. Damascus, Syria (29.3)

Over five years: 89 of the 140 cities surveyed have seen some change in overall liveability scores. Of these cities, 57 have seen declines in liveability. Three cities in particular, Tripoli, Kiev and Damascus, have seen significant declines of 21.9, 25.8 and 27 percentage points respectively, illustrating that conflict is, unsurprisingly, the key factor in undermining wider liveability.

Melbourne scored a 97.5, just two-and-a-half points shy of a perfect score. While Melbourne, Australia has remained the top city for the past five years, Jon Copestake, the editor of the survey, says the “hostage siege in Sydney late last year has put Australia on a high terror alert, which could affect future scores,” according to Neos Kosmos.

Monocle Magazine’s list of most livable cities was released in June, with Tokyo, Japan coming in at the top of the list with Vienna in a close second. Berlin rounded out the top three spots. Monocle Magazine is a London-based lifestyle and culture journal that said Tokyo came in first in their Quality of Life survey “due to its defining paradox of heart-stopping size and concurrent feeling of peace and quiet.” Melbourne came in fourth for this survey.

[Photo via Shutterstock]