Two Australian cities have been named in the top five list of the world’s most liveable cities, and Sydney is not one of them.

Melbourne has again topped the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Liveability Survey, with South Australia’s capital Adelaide coming in in fifth place.

It is the fifth year in a row that Melbourne has been named the best city in the world in which to live.

Vienna, Austria, has been ranked as the world’s second most liveable city, followed by Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, respectively.





Melbourne achieved a rating of 97.5, 2.5 points below the maximum score of 100, with top marks for healthcare, education and infrastructure.

Adelaide has similarly impressive results with an overall score of 96.6. Adelaide’s healthcare and education also received top marks but the city’s infrastructure was rated at 96.4.

View photos Adelaide's environment and culture helped propel it into the top five. Photo: AAP More

Sydney came in in seventh place behind Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with 96.1, and 100s for healthcare, education and infrastructure. It lost out to Adelaide and Melbourne due to its lower score for culture and environment, and stability.

Perth was ranked ninth with 95.9, and Auckland, New Zealand, rounded out the top 10 with 95.7.

Helsinki, Finland, took eighth place.

View photos Ongoing civil strife in Syria has seen its capital Damascus rated as the worst city in the world in which to live. Photo: AAP More

Damascus in Syria was rated as the worst city in the world to live with a score of just 30.6, coming in behind Dhaka, in Bangladesh and Port Morseby in Papua New Guinea.

Zimbabwe’s capital Harare has improved after a period of relative stability in the country but remains one of the worst places to live, alongside Tripoli, Libya, and Algiers, Algeria.

Morning news break – August 18