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Melbourne and Sydney have been named among the world's most liveable cities, but Tokyo scored the top spot in a new survey ranking the world's 25 most liveable cities.

Tokyo climbed from second place in 2014 to claim the top spot for its "defining paradox of heart-stopping size and concurrent feeling of peace and quiet" in an annual survey by global affairs magazine Monocle. Tokyo was also named the world's safest city earlier this year.

Second was the Austrian capital Vienna followed by Berlin, which rose 11 places from last year.

Sydney was named as the world's fifth most liveable city, climbing six spots from 11th place to make the top five in the 2015 Quality of Life Survey.

Australia's most populated city and the world's 6th safest city outranked cities including Stockholm (6th) Vancouver (7th) Helsinki (8th) Munich (9th) and Zurich (10th) in the index, which looks at factors such as the cost of a coffee, recycling rates, unemployment levels and the price of a three-bedroom house.

Sydney's high ranking was the result of low unemployment rate (4.3 per cent), its high rate of recycling (68 per cent) as well as public swimming pools available for workers to have a swim during lunch breaks.

While Sydney climbed, Melbourne dropped. The world's friendliest city fell from its third spot to fourth, but still nipped Sydney to be Australia's top most liveable city. Brisbane fell off the list entirely having come in at number 25 in 2014.

The survey this year added 22 new metrics, including housing and the cost of living, such as the price of a three-bed house to the cost of a coffee, glass of wine and decent lunch.


This has resulted in the cities like Copenhagen, three-time winner, slipping down the list to the 10th spot and cities like Berlin and Sydney rising. The Danish capital was ranked the world's most liveable city in Monocle's survey in 2013 and 2014.

Helsinki, Munich and Zurich were among the other cities that dropped in ranking in this year's survey.

Cities that have risen include Vancouver, Paris, Lisbon and Geneva, which entered the top 25 list at 22, after a two-year absence.

Tokyo wasn't the only Japanese city to make the top 25; Fukuoka and Kyoto came in 12th and 14th spots in the survey respectively.

Monocle's 2015 Quality of Life Survey rankings

Tokyo Vienna Berlin Melbourne Sydney Stockholm Vancouver Helsinki Munich Zurich Copenhagen Fukuoka Singapore Kyoto Paris Madrid Auckland Lisbon Hong Kong Amsterdam Hamburg Geneva Oslo Barcelona Portland

See also: Tokyo named the world's safest city in 2015

See also: World's friendliest city – it's Melbourne not Sydney