Three Australian cities are among the best in the world for families, a recent study has shown.

Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane ranked 13th, 15th and 18th respectively out of 100 cities. Copenhagen in Denmark took the top spot, while Manila in the Philippines came in at No.100.

The study, conducted by German property company Homeday, looked at factors including housing affordability, city amenities and access to parental leave and health care to determine the top 100.

The Australian cities were among the worst for parental leave – each scored just 1.3 out of a possible 10, and only ranked above nine other cities – all in the US.

The top cities for paid maternity and paternity leave were Sofia in Bulgaria, Helsinki in Finland and Budapest in Hungary. The score was worked out using the number of weeks of paid leave available to parents, but also took into account the number of men who took paternity leave.

The Aussie capitals also had room for improvement when it came to housing affordability.

The study looked at the median house prices in each city in compared with average salaries. Brisbane fared best, coming in at no. 22 while Melbourne came in at no. 50 and Sydney took the no. 58 spot.

University of Melbourne research fellow Kate Raynor said it was important to not only look at the affordability of housing, but also the types of houses available.

“If we talk about Melbourne and the influx of apartments that have come through in the past five years, a lot of them are one-bedroom, two-bedroom, really small apartments – they’re not big enough for a family to live there,” Dr Raynor said.

She said other important factors included having schools near where people can afford to buy houses and rethinking the way apartments are designed.

“Things like increasing the amount of storage that’s available and creating shared space so that the kids can all play together,” Dr Raynor said.

The Australian cities fared better when it came to travel and activities, green space and safety.

Sydney took the top spot for the most kid-friendly airport, followed by Singapore and Oslo in Norway.

Brisbane’s best result was for its high number of green spaces. The Queensland capital took the no.10 spot in this category, but was pipped by Sydney which came in ninth.

All three Australian cities made the top 20 for safety, which was calculated using the number of theft and murders in a city weighted with the local perception of security.

Dr Raynor said road safety was another important aspect to consider.

“It’s about creating spaces that encourage people to be able to ride a bike, to be able to walk around, to be able to access public transport,” she said. “There’s certainly more that we could do to bring up the power and the comfort of pedestrian movement.”

The study also factored in perceptions from local parenting experts. Melbourne had its best results in this category, coming in sixth, while Sydney took the no.4 spot.