If you utter the phrase 'most liveable city' to a Melburnian, you might notice them slightly wince, or perhaps imperceptibly shudder. The annual worldwide ranking has become a bit of a touchy subject. Once upon a time, our city was the darling of the Global Liveability Index – Melbourne was crowned the world’s most liveable city for a whopping seven years in a row. But much has changed since then (after current reigning champion Vienna dethroned us in 2018), and post-pandemic, our city shockingly slumped to tenth place on the list. Thankfully, we've still got a top five spot in 2024, although but the bad news is we've been usurped of our third place ranking from last year by yet another European country.
If you have no idea what we're talking about: each year, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) releases its Global Liveability Index, ranking 173 cities around the world from the best to worst living conditions. It looks at five key metrics, including healthcare, culture, education, infrastructure and the environment. The results have just dropped for 2024, with Vienna, Austria retaining its title as the most livable city for the third year running. Denmark’s Copenhagen secured the second spot, followed by Switzerland’s Zurich in third place.
Here are the top ten cities on the 2024 EIU Global Liveability Index:
- Vienna, Austria
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Melbourne, Australia
- Calgary, Canada
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Sydney, Australia
- Vancouver, Canada
- Osaka, Japan
- Auckland, New Zealand
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