Perth has again made it into the list of the top ten world's most liveable cities.

Melbourne came out top among 140 cities for providing the best living conditions for the third year in a row.

Adelaide (6), Sydney (7) and Perth (9) were the other three of four Australian cities to make it it into the top 10 of The Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability survey, with Auckland the only New Zealand city in that group at number 10.

Melbourne claimed the number one position as the world's most liveable city from Vancouver in 2011, after the two cities shared first position in 2002.

Vancouver now lies in third place with the Austrian capital Vienna second.

Improvements to infrastructure in Australian cities helped push them up the list in 2011, although The Economist notes Vancouver has also embarked on a series of high-profile projects.

Eight of the top 10 cities are in Australia and Canada.

Top 10 cities

1, Melbourne, Australia

2, Vienna, Austria

3, Vancouver, Canada

4, Toronto, Canada

5, Calgary, Canada

6, Adelaide, Australia

7, Sydney, Australia

8, Helsinki, Finland

9, Perth, Australia



10, Auckland, New Zealand

The bottom 10 cities

Tehran, Iran

Douala, Cameroon

Tripoli, Libya

Karachi, Pakistan

Algiers, Algeria

Harare, Zimbabwe

Lagos, Nigeria

Port Moresby, PNG

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Damascus, Syria