There's no denying that Melbourne is generally regarded as a great place to be – our city recently cracked the top ten in a new global economic index, and was also dubbed as the third most 'chilled out' city worldwide. But, that's not to say our city isn't without its flaws (Melbourne was also named as the seventh most unaffordable city in the world to buy a home earlier this month) – the cost of living has been creeping higher and higher for the last couple of years, and many residents are definitely feeling the pinch.
So considering the various pressures that Melburnians are under, it's not a complete surprise that our city barely made it into the top 50 cities worldwide in this year’s Happy City Index.
This annual review of 250 cities across the world takes into account thousands of quality of life factors across five categories: citizens, governance, environment, economy and mobility. Cities are then ranked by their total score and awarded gold, silver or bronze status.
Melbourne ranked 41st in the world, just claiming a spot in the top 50. Our city did place higher than other Australian capital cities, trumping Sydney (ranked 116th, yikes), Perth and Hobart. While the 41st spot may sound a bit grim, taking into account that there were a total of 250 cities being considered, it's still a positive result.
But when it comes to Aussie cities, Brisbane (with its laid-back charm, good weather and lively music scene) took the highest spot – ranking as the 21st happiest city in the world.
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So which city topped the whole list? The happiest city of all was found to be Aarhus in Denmark, followed by Zurich in Switzerland and Berlin in Germany.
This year, 37 cities earned the prestigious title of 'Golden Happiness Cities', with European cities claiming the entire top 15. Minneapolis in the US was the only non-European city to make it into the top 20 (followed by Brissy).
Melbourne ranked well in the areas of governance (involving residents in the decision-making processes) and economy, but not as well in environmental areas (which looked at factors such as natural resource management and renewable energy) and mobility (which looks at factors such as getting around the city on public transport or by car).
Here are the happiest cities in Australia in 2024, according to the Happy City Index:
21. Brisbane
41. Melbourne
61. Perth
87. Hobart
116. Sydney
Here are the top ten happiest cities in the world in 2024:
- Aarhus, Denmark
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Berlin, Germany
- Gothenburg, Sweden
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Helsinki, Finland
- Bristol, UK
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Munich, Germany
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