I’m a big fan of Melbourne — indeed, I have friends there and I often advise people planning a trip to Australia to include it on their itinerary.
But I can’t say that I’m convinced that it is the world’s “most liveable city”, as it has been declared by The Economist for six years running. (Will it make seven? Wait until August to find out.)
I’m not sure what metrics are used* in the judging, but I suppose there’s a clue in the fact that Damascus has been rated the least liveable city.
Interestingly, Adelaide and Perth are also in the top seven most liveable cities. That’s three Australian cities among the most liveable cities in the world!
Now, I love my country, but how can it be that Australia, with a population of less than 25 million, has so many “liveable” cities?
Also, why is Australia’s most populous, and most-visited city, Sydney, not even in the top 10?
And why is Brisbane — which, for years, billed itself as the world’s most liveable city — only in 18th place? That’s going to have to change once I get back.
PS: As always, if you don’t like one list, there’s at least one other to compare it with. The Mercer survey has all of the Australian cities in its top 40, but only Sydney cracks the top 10. Some of my favourite cities performed poorly.
PPS: the big question for travellers, I guess, is that even if a city is not especially liveable, is it visitable?
*The Economist says: “The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability rating, part of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle across five broad categories of Stability, Healthcare, Culture and environment, Education and Infrastructure.”
