Well, the results are out and according to a global liveability index, travellers should move to Europe or Australia for a shot at the good life.
The Global Liveability Index, by The Economist Intelligence Unit, assesses 173 cities around the world and ranks them depending on the quality of key factories including education, infrastructure, culture and health care.
This year, Vienna was deemed the most liveable city for 2023. The “unsurpassed” quality of its infrastructure, culture and entertainment, stability, healthcare and education earned it a score of 98.4.
This is not the first time Vienna has been named the most liveable city; it’s held the title often over the past several years.
In Denmark, Copenhagen was ranked second, with a score of 98. This isn’t surprising; European cities have typically scored highly. However, this year, Europe did not claim third and fourth place, which went to Melbourne and Sydney.
The city of Melbourne ranked highly for markers of 'liveability'. Photo / Taras Vyshnya
Meanwhile, New Zealand just made it into the top 10 list. Auckland and Osaka, Japan, tied for 10th place with a score of 96.
All cities in the top 10 list scored 100 for education.
Auckland scored 95 for stability, 95.8 for healthcare, 100 for education and 97.9 for culture and environment, the highest score of all the top 10 cities. Wellington, the only other New Zealand city in the index, was ranked 23rd.
While Australia performed strongly in this year’s index, New Zealand has made the biggest strides.
Of all 173 cities, Wellington made the largest improvement in rankings, moving 35 spots up to 23rd, with a score of 93.7.
Auckland made the second-largest jump, 25 spots, to 10th place.
Auckland ranked the highest in terms of culture and environment out of the top 10 rated cities. Photo / Rafael Ben-Ari, Chameleons Eye
Europe falling behind
Meanwhile, EIU noted Europe cities dominated the list of ‘fallers’; cities that have dropped in the ranking.
Edinburgh in the UK slid the largest number of spots, 23, to 58th. Others on the list of 10 top drops included Stockholm, Manchester, Rotterdam, Lyon and London.
This doesn’t mean these cities have worsened, the report clarified. Rather, they have not matched improvements made by cities in places such as Asia.
However, overall, European cities still have the highest average rating for liveability.
