Melbourne ranked second most liveable city in world

Melbourne has been ranked the second most liveable city in the world according to a global survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Canada’s Vancouver topped the Global Liveability Survey list, with Vienna third.

Australian cities received perfect scores for education and healthcare but Melbourne, in Victoria, was the cream of Australian cities, despite getting a low mark for traffic problems. The index also takes into account factors including crime rates, cost of living, infrastructure and climate.

Sydney came seventh in the global list, Adelaide and Perth came equal eighth, and Brisbane was ranked 21 in the list of 140 cities.

Australian cities far outranked some of the world’s most popular destinations – London was placed 53rd and New York 56th.

Economist Intelligence Unit editor Jon Copestake said only 2.3 per cent separated the entire top 10 cities, and Brisbane was only 3.3 per cent lower than Melbourne.