Melbourne has again been hailed as the world’s most liveable city.
The city earned perfect scores in education, healthcare and infrastructure from The Economist’s liveability report, which has ranked it the most liveable city for the sixth consecutive year.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said Melburnians should be proud of the accomplishment.
“We do not take this title for granted and are constantly planning and implementing policies that will continue to improve our quality of life,” he said in a statement.
“It is an exciting time in Melbourne: we’ve got many major infrastructure projects under way including the Metro Tunnel, and the proposed renewal of the Queen Victoria Market precinct.”
Of the 140 cities surveyed in the report, Adelaide and Perth made it into the top 10. Sydney missed out due to an increased threat of terrorism.
“Although the top five cities remain unchanged, the past year has seen increasing instability across the world, causing volatility in the scores of many cities,” the report said. “Sydney, for example, has fallen by four places, to move out of the 10 most liveable cities, owing to a heightened perceived threat of terrorism.”
Melbourne, now home to more than 4.53 million people, received less than perfect scores for stability (95), culture and environment. The stability score assesses criteria including crime, threat of civil unrest and threats of terror and military conflict. Criminal offences in Melbourne totalled 34,456 from April 2015 to March 2016, up more than 1100 from a year earlier, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews remained optimistic, saying Melbourne outperformed some of the world’s best cities.
“We’ve got something for everyone and the best of everything in Melbourne. Our title proves it,” he said.
That's 6 in a row. #Melbourne is, once again, the world's most liveable city. #springst #liveability16
— Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) August 17, 2016
Vienna, capital city of Austria, came in second. – Report and photo by Matthew Male
About the author
Matthew Male is a journalism student at Macleay College. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewMale
