Sydney topped the list in a national report of the ten best places to live in Australia in terms of wellbeing.
The SGS Cities and Regions Wellbeing Index released on Tuesday found that eight of the top ten locations are located in Sydney, with Greater Sydney’s Northern Beaches taking the top spot.
The report examined seven factors across 518 local government areas, including the economy, housing and health.
The index also considered factors such as the environment, income and wealth, employment, knowledge and skills, equality, community and work-life balance.
SGS senior partner and lead author of the report Julian Szafraniec said Sydney’s northern beaches and surrounding locations performed well in many areas.
Greater Sydney’s northern beaches (pictured) have been ranked number one in the country for wellness, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Northern Beach (pictured in Manly Beach) had high levels of community member volunteering and small gender pay gaps, putting them ahead
“They have high levels of income and wealth, and higher levels of education and health outcomes within those communities,” he said. news.com.au.
‘What pushed the Northern Beaches and some of those areas over the edge was that they had more equal communities.
“They had higher rates of volunteering within the community, fewer people with extreme work schedules, and smaller gender pay gaps than other parts of the country.”
Queensland also made the list, with Brisbane in 10th place, while Melbourne came in 15th.
‘Any place that scored high on the wellbeing index really had to score high across multiple metrics, and Brisbane was one of them.
“It has a large and diverse economy and has also achieved high scores on health outcomes with good access to healthcare and a healthy community,” Mr Szafraniec said.
The ACT came in second on the list, making it the best-performing region in the country for the second year in a row.
The capital scored highly on the factors of economy, environment and work-life balance.
Szafraniec said the index had captured a snapshot of each LGA area and hoped it would be a “powerful tool” for decision-makers.
‘We are at a time in history when traditional measures of growth and success, such as GDP, no longer make sense. “You can have a well-paying job, but you still won’t be able to afford a house,” he said.
“Business could be booming and then everything could be destroyed by a major weather event. We need to focus on measuring what matters.”
ACT ranked second on the list, scoring highly on economic, work-life balance, and environmental factors.
This is the first year that the index considers gender pay gaps.
The biggest gaps, which could be up to $500 a week, were in regional Western Australia, followed by Greater Perth and regional Queensland.
Szafraniec said this is often because rural and regional economies are based on industries such as mining, which tend to be male-dominated.
It wasn’t all bad news for areas outside Sydney, with Yarra in Melbourne being one of the areas that scored highly for work-life balance.
The regional areas of Streaky Bay and Kangaroo Island, both in South Australia, also ranked high for their focus on lifestyle.
The regions also generally outperformed their urban counterparts when it came to housing affordability, with Lockhart and Bogan in New South Wales and Esperance in Western Australia performing highly on the Rental Affordability Index.
Worst in the housing category was Perth and the remote communities of Palm Island and Yarrabah in Queensland, and the index also considers homelessness and overcrowding as well as affordability.
The report found life expectancy was lower in rural and regional areas compared to cities (pictured Little Manly Beach).
Regions were worse for health, and the report found life expectancy in capital cities was higher: a person living in Greater Sydney was expected to live up to 84.3 years, compared to 81.7 years. in regional New South Wales.
Michelle Tjondro, senior associate at SGS and lead author of the report, said in SGS website The next important step is what “policymakers, businesses and communities” do with the results.
“As a nation, we must use these findings to inform how we prioritize investment, budget for socioeconomic outcomes, and promote equitable community well-being,” he said.
BEST PERFORMING LGA:
1. Northern Beaches, Greater Sydney
2. Australian Capital Territory
3. North Sydney, Greater Sydney
4. Ku-ring-gai, Greater Sydney
5. Hornsby, Greater Sydney
6. Lane Cove Greater Sydney
7. Mosman, Greater Sydney
8. Sutherland, Greater Sydney
9. Sydney
10.Brisbane