It is curious that Melbourne has been named the world's most liveable city for an unprecedented seventh consecutive year.

After all, the metropolis' most pressing issues in recent times have undermined liveability for a sizeable proportion of a population expanding by more than 100,000 a year and forecast to double to about 8 million by the middle of the century.

These "growing pains" include traffic congestion, housing unaffordability and a lack of infrastructure, particularly public transport and amenities for the new suburbs on the runaway urban fringe.

But there is good reason why Melbourne received the accolade from research organisation The Economist Intelligence Unit. The annual survey is a guide to help companies calculate where to deploy – and what to pay – expatriate executives. Its criteria measure liveability for the few who are highly paid and centrally located, not for the legion of frustrated commuters, many of them underemployed, jammed on freeways fretting about coping on a shrinking real wage and, in many cases, suffering disappointment at the daily struggles caused by moving to the under-resourced fringe to buy a home they can afford.