Melbourne has claimed bragging rights over Sydney in a prestigious global ranking of “liveable” cities, but both have fallen from where they were last year, although they remain comfortably in the top 10.
Melbourne ranked fourth and Sydney seventh in the Global Liveability Index compiled by The Economist magazine, which produces the annual ranking for its high-flying business and executive audience.
The magazine ranked 173 cities, giving scores on health care, culture, environment, stability, infrastructure and education, but not including affordability.
Melbourne ranked fourth with an overall index of 97, having placed third last year, with top marks in healthcare and education, but losing points in infrastructure due to “an acute housing crisis” that affected several regions.
Sydney was only slightly behind Melbourne’s index with a score of 96.6, but that was enough to see it drop from fourth place last year to seventh, where it tied with Canada’s Vancouver.
New Zealand also managed to sneak into the top 10, with Auckland tying with Japan’s Osaka for ninth and 10th place.
The Economist said housing shortages were affecting many regions of the world, but singled out two countries for special mention.
“The situation is particularly worrying in Australia and Canada, where rental property availability is at an all-time low and purchase prices have continued to rise despite interest rate increases,” reads the report by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Melbourne has claimed bragging rights over Sydney after beating its New South Wales rival in a liveability ranking compiled by the venerable Economist magazine.
For the third year in a row, Vienna, the Austrian capital, was ranked the most liveable city after receiving “perfect” scores in four out of five categories.
It was rated lower on culture and environment due to a perceived lack of major sporting events.
The Danish city of Copenhagen maintained its second place from last year, while the Swiss city of Zurich moved up from sixth to third place.
The Canadian city of Calgary tied for fifth place with the Swiss city of Geneva.
Damascus, Syria, has remained stuck at the bottom of the list since last year, earning the dubious distinction of being the “world’s least liveable city.”
Libya’s Tripoli, Algeria’s Algiers and Nigeria’s Lagos rounded out the bottom four, with none of those cities improving their overall score from 2023.
EIU deputy director Barsali Bhattacharyya said global liveability had increased slightly by 2024, but risks to stability were emerging.
“Still-high inflation accompanied by high interest rates and other economic headwinds led to another year of frequent protests around the world,” he said.
“Since we conducted our survey, there have been more cases of civil unrest and demonstrations around the world.”
Sydney has dropped three places from last year’s liveability ranking to seventh place.
Bhattacharyya said protests like the demonstrations on college campuses across the United States against Israel’s military actions in Gaza suggest “continued tension over livability that is unlikely to ease in the near future.”