Sydneysiders, it might be time we stopped complaining about our city. Sure, our property prices make extortionists feel embarrassed, and our nightlife’s still less lively than the Tasmanian tiger. But The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking just reminded us how good we’ve got it. Sydney jumped to fifth, with only Vienna, Osaka, Calgary and Melbourne ahead of us.

Melbourne dropped to second, meaning that condolences are due to our Victorian cousins, who just lost their favourite bragging topic. Baristas across the city have been sobbing into their beards and using their tears for cold drip filter.

The harbour opens up from the Manly ferry. Credit:Destination NSW

But Sydney’s score is a reminder that this is still a wonderful place to live. Our climate and the natural environment of this harbour city are spectacular, of course, but our general quality of life is much better than we tend to acknowledge. Even Darling Harbour’s looking quite elegant nowadays.

The most surprising result in The Economist’s report was that Sydney received full marks for infrastructure. Health and education also received perfect scores, which isn’t surprising – but who among us would acknowledge that our much-maligned transport systems work just fine most of the time?