The Australian cities’ spin doctors were out in force for the results of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability index

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

It’s a tale of Australia’s two most liveable cities.

Melbourne, once the perennial chart-topper, has been relegated to second for a second consecutive year in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability index.

Sydney, often thought of as more more beautiful but always a few places behind its southern rival, moved from fifth to third in the most recent list, released on Wednesday.

The Austrian capital, Vienna, topped the list for the second year in a row. Adelaide rounded out the top 10.

Vienna named world's most liveable city as Melbourne loses crown Read more

In Sydney and Melbourne, the headlines proffered by the city councils’ spin doctors told the story.

“Melbourne again among world’s top cities,” said the City of Melbourne’s press release.

In Sydney it was “Sydney rises to the top of global liveability ranks”.

Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) Scott Morrison to Neil Mitchell after learning Vienna beat our Melbourne (2) and Sydney (3) for most liveable city again. “Vienna’s beaches are rubbish.”

Heidi Murphy (@heidimur) Nooooooooo!!! We miss out AGAIN. Melbourne the SECOND most liveable city in the world. Vienna wins again.. And Sydney's made third?! Do we stop rating this ratings agency now..? The Lord Mayor will be in studio with @3AWNeilMitchell after 9am

The Economist’s index ranks 150 cities around the world, giving them a ranking across 30 factors, which is then used to created a weighted score between one and 100.

Only 0.7 points separated nearly perfect Vienna (99.1) and Melbourne (98.4). Sydney, meanwhile, scored 98.1. Perth finished in 14th place, while Brisbane was ranked 18th.

“Sydney has risen from fifth to third, thanks to an improvement in its culture and environment score, reflecting an increased focus on combating and mitigating the impacts of climate change, as outlined by the city’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 strategy,” the Economist said. “However, Sydney remains behind its great rival, Melbourne.

“With both cities already scoring very highly across all categories, there is only limited potential for Sydney to displace either Melbourne or Vienna at the top of the rankings.”

Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) There is no social setting in which a person from Melbourne will refrain from a tangent about how amazing / liveable / superior Melbourne is

Either way, Melburnians ought not wallow, nor Sydney-siders get too excited.

“What’s important to remember is that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s index is a composite rating made up 30 indicators, with only four of them being quantitative,” said Dr Lucy Gunn, a research fellow in the Centre for Urban Research at Melbourne’s RMIT university.

“The rest of them are based on a rating from the [Economist Intelligence Unit] itself so there’s almost no objectivity in the development of this index, and it’s really just a marketing tool to help executives understand, in a broad sense, a city’s living conditions.”

Gunn told Guardian Australia there was “not much in it” between the two cities, which were separated by 0.3 points. Given the subjective nature of the indicators, whether a city was “one or two or three is irrelevant”, she said.

“Both Melbourne and Sydney are highly liveable cities and that’s true of all Australian cities.”

The world’s most liveable cities 2019

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Sydney, Australia

4. Osaka, Japan

5. Calgary, Canada

6. Vancouver, Canada

7. Toronto, Canada

7. Tokyo, Japan

9. Copenhagen, Denmark

10. Adelaide, Australia

The world’s least liveable cities 2019

1. Damascus, Syria

2. Lagos, Nigeria

3. Dhaka, Bangladesh

4. Tripoli, Libya

5. Karachi, Pakistan

6. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

7. Harare, Zimbabwe

8. Douala, Cameroon

9. Algiers, Algeria

10. Caracas, Venezuela