Melbourne Pips Sydney For ‘Straya’s Most Liveable City

We’ve score ourselves an embarrassment of riches when it comes to natural and urban resources, and the world is well aware of it – and they are envious AF, TBQH.

Our top cities are often cited as being some of the world’s most liveable, and every once in a while evidence crops up that backs that assertion.

Monocle (the global magazine brainchild of media wunderkind Tyler Brûlé) has released its annual Quality of Life survey, and the results paint a remarkably rosy picture of our beloved land – as well as provide ample fuel for an ages-old inter-city rivalry.

Melbourne‘s hot streak of wins over Sydney continues in this year’s list, officially ranking as Australia’s Most Liveable City. But it’s not without a caveat.

Sydney’s stock is well and truly on the rise, and this year they fell only *just* short of southern rival Melbourne, who took a small tumble in the ratings. In fact, both cities managed to land themselves in the top 5 on the global ranking – a list of 25 cities that included only one from the US and none from the United Kingdom.

In ranking Melbourne – who placed fourth – Monocle noted Melbourne’s reputation for “honouring the good things in life: art, food, coffee, design, architecture, theatre, live music, and sport.” And noting that “You’ll often hear a Sydneysider concede that it’s a great place for a weekend.”

As for Sydney, just behind Melbourne in fifth place on the list, the magazine stated that the city “[boasts] long sunlight hours right through winter,” and that “the barometer rarely drops below double digits.” “Early mornings see residents take to the beaches from Bondi to Balmoral, and at lunchtime office workers head for the pools that line the shore.“

The list introduced a number of new categories to judge cities by, including the price of a three bedroom home, the cost of a cup of coffee, the cost of a glass of wine and a decent lunch, as well as access to the outdoors.

Tokyo managed to top this year’s list for the first time ever, whilst last year’s winner Copenhagen took a huge tumble, falling all the way down to tenth place.

The full list of the 25 most liveable cities in the world is as follows.