Monocle magazine has released its annual Quality of Life survey for 2015 and all in all, Australia has, unsurprisingly, done very well for itself.
Our land, abounding in nature’s gifts of beauty rich and rare, has scored us two places in the top five most liveable cities in the world. Having said this, the two Aussie cities that made the prime spots are those that have the biggest rivalry – Melbourne and Sydney.
Tokyo took out the title of world’s most liveable city, for the first time ever, last year’s winner Copenhagen fell way back, coming in at 10th place.
Featuring only one city from the US and none from the United Kingdom, the list measured cities on a number of categories including the new additions of how much a cup of coffee, glass of wine, decent lunch and a three bedroom home all cost, respectively.
However, the part we all care about – i.e. the Melbourne–Sydney rivalry is settled for another year, with Melbourne sliding into fourth position for “honouring the good things in life: art, food, coffee, design, architecture, theatre, live music and sport.” The list also noted that “you’ll often hear a Sydneysider concede that it’s a great place for a weekend.”
Which, they may do a lot less now, after discovering they were pipped at the post by one place. Sydney made fifth place for its “long sunlight hours right through winter” and the fact that “the barometer rarely drops below double digits.”
The 25 most liveable cities in the world for 2015 are:
- Tokyo, Japan
- Vienna, Austria
- Berlin, Germany
- Melbourne, Australia
- Sydney, Australia
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Vancouver, Canada
- Helsinki, Finland
- Munich, Germany
- (equal) Zürich, Switzerland
- (equal) Copenhagen, Denmark
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Singapore
- Kyoto, Japan
- Paris, France
- Madrid, Spain
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Hong Kong
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Hamburg, Germany
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Oslo, Norway
- Barcelona, Spain
- Portland, USA
But we all know the moral of the story is that Melbourne is officially Australia’s most liveable city. Sorry, Sydney, better luck next year.
You can read more about the Quality of Life survey at Monocle.
