Melbourne is named as one of the world’s most liveable cities
Melbourne is cited as one of the most livable cities – despite the longest Covid-19 lockdown in the world
- Melbourne just beat Sydney in the new global nest city list
- The city was in lockdown for 262 days under Dan Andrews
Melbourne has once again been named one of the world’s most livable cities after sliding down through severe Covid lockdowns.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, published on Thursday, ranks Melbourne as the third best place in the world to live, up from number 10 last year.
The Victorian capital went into lockdown six times between 2020 and 2021 under the Dan Andrews government, totaling 262 days and setting the record for the world’s longest time in lockdown.
Melbourne was named the world’s third most liveable city in a new global list
The Victorian capital holds the record for the longest Covid lockdown at 262 days under Prime Minister Dan Andrews
“From the most closed off city to the third most livable city in the world is pretty good,” Melbourne Mayor Sally Capp said. The age.
Austria’s capital Vienna took first place, while Denmark’s capital Copenhagen took second place – both retaining their spot from last year.
Other Australian capitals also performed well, with most jumping significantly in the rankings compared to last year.
Sydney rose 11 places from 13 to number four, while Perth and Adelaide tied for 12th, from 32nd and 30th respectively.
Brisbane was ranked as the world’s 16th most liveable city, rising from number 27 in 2022.
Ms Capp said it was ‘cute’ to see Sydney right behind Melbourne.
“We will use this competition to push us to do better, work harder and regain our rightful position at the top,” she said.
Five categories were assessed: stability, culture, education, healthcare and infrastructure.
Melbourne only outperformed Sydney in cultural terms, with a score of 95.8 compared to the NSW capital’s 94.4.
Victorian College of the Arts graduates Veronica Pena Negrette and Vitoria Hronopoulos, both 21, told The Age they were entranced by Melbourne’s theater and hospitality scenes.
“There are so many bars in Brunswick, so many in the city,” Ms. Negrette said.
The pair said they first moved to Melbourne during lockdowns and found it difficult but now love the city after it reopened.
They said they might consider moving to Sydney where they could have more jobs, but Melbourne, which is slightly cheaper and has a thriving theater scene, was exactly what they wanted at the moment.
Melburnians are once again enjoying the city’s many bars and cultural hotspots (pictured is Prahran)
Many companies have barely struggled through the lingering closures and strict rules
On the other side of the ditch, New Zealand cities also fared well, with Wellington jumping 35 places to No. 23 and Auckland rising 25 places to No. 10.
“The lifting of Covid-related restrictions generally bodes well for global livability in 2023,” Upasana Dutt, head of the Liveability Index at EIU, said in a statement.
“Education has come out stronger with children returning to school, in addition to a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and healthcare systems, with some notable improvements in cities in emerging economies of Asia and the Middle East.
“As the political and economic axis of the world continues to shift eastward, we expect cities in these regions to slowly move up our quality of life rankings.”
It seems that European cities are also taking longer to recover from recent years compared to Asia-Pacific cities, with London, Edinburgh and Stockholm dropping spots in the ranking.
“None of these cities have seen a particularly sharp fall in their index scores, but they have failed to post the gains that many other cities – especially those in Asia – have made over the past year,” the report reads.