Looking to reside or invest in Australia? It might not be a bad idea to do so, with a recent report ranking four Australian cities as some of the most liveable in the world.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's annual Liveability Report ranked Melbourne as the world's most liveability city in 2013, with an overall score of 97.5 out of 100, while Adelaide, Sydney and Perth also made the list at numbers five, seven and nine, respectively. Notably, Melbourne was named the world's most liveable city for the third year running.
The survey tracked 140 countries, and the results were generated by examining and rating six major criteria: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Indicators were scored as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable, and were then weighted to produce a rating, whereby 100 represented ideal liveability and one represented intoreable liveability.
Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth all received perfect scores of 100 in the education and healthcare categories, and scores of 95.9 or above in the overall liveability category.
According to the report, the top-scoring cities tended to "be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density," which fostered "a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure."
Commenting specifically on Australia, the report cited infrastructural improvements as being a key factor behind the nation's liveability standards.
Other cities appearing high on the list included Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Helsinki and Auckland.
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