From the most locked-down city in the world to one of the most liveable, Melbourne’s return to the podium in the Global Liveability Index highlights Australia’s post-COVID revival as other state capitals also rise in the rankings.

The Global Liveability Index 2023 report said “a shift towards normality after the pandemic has helped the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney to bounce back up the rankings to third and fourth place, following a sharp tumble in 2022”.

“Melbourne and Sydney have moved up to fill spots claimed last year by western European cities such as Frankfurt and Amsterdam,” it said.

“They have seen their scores in the healthcare category improve since last year, when they were still affected by COVID waves that stressed their healthcare systems.”

The Global Liveability Ranking is assessed yearly by the Economist Intelligence Unit, skipping 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2023 the index ranked 173 cities based on “over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors” across five categories – stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Simon Kuestenmacher, a demographer and founder of The Demographics Group, said the value of being high on the index is through global brand awareness.

“It puts cities in the minds of populations across the globe, so it is very much a positive development,” he said.

‘Perspective of an executive’

“The idea of how liveable a city is is from the perspective of an executive who gets their housing, their travel, all of their expenses paid for by an international firm.”

Although Sydney also re-entered the top 10 most liveable cities, Melbourne claimed the bragging rights after rising seven positions compared to the 2022 index.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said in a statement that while Melbourne made a meteoric return to a podium position, “we’re not taking our eyes off regaining the title of the World’s Most Liveable City once more”.

“From the most locked-down city to the world’s third-most liveable city is pretty darn good,” she said.

“It shows you can even throw anything at us, and we still have the incredible ability and resilience to bounce back.”

Vienna remained the world’s most liveable city, a position previously held by Melbourne from 2011 to 2017.

Lord Mayor Capp said since the EIU started the ranking in 2002, Melbourne had consistently been in the top 10.

“We know our culture and environment help us achieve this status. We’re known as the global capital for live music, and are home to the best arts, events and sporting industries in Australia,” she said.

“It’s cute to see Sydney nipping at our heels, and we’ll leverage this competition to push us to do better, work harder and achieve our rightful position at the top once again.”

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the accolade demonstrates “that Sydney is back,” and the city has adjusted and adapted to life during the pandemic in a way that reflects an ability to make the best of any situation.

“The expansion of our much-loved al fresco dining program and the extension of our bike networks were strongly influenced by the pandemic as we sought to support small businesses and help people travel safely across the city,” she said.

“This has resulted in a transformation for Sydney. Communities have come together to enjoy the city streets, while greater numbers of Sydneysiders are turning to two wheels, with bike trip numbers up around five to six times what they were in 2010.”

Perth and Adelaide were two of the biggest movers, sharing equal 12th place on the index after rising 21 and 19 places respectively.

Mr Kuestenmacher said it is important not to get too hung up on the rankings and to recognise what they are used for.

“Overall, this is an excellent ranking and excellent for bragging rights, but it doesn’t really change the lives of people in Melbourne,” he said.

“What we need to remember with the Economist ranking is that it does not rank all the cities in the world for liveability for the residents. It is targeted very much at the executives.”

Damascus at the bottom

Damascus in war-torn Syria bottoms out the list, beating Tripoli in Libya and Algerian capital Algiers for the unwanted honour of being the world’s least liveable city.

Mr Kuestenmacher said if you redesigned Melbourne or Sydney to improve its ranking on the index, it may not improve the lives of local residents.

“Stability, which is political stability, is just safety. This is why Melbourne will always be higher than Damascus,” he said.

“But will Melbourne stay at the top, how well will it rank? Who knows?”

European cities dominated the list of cities plummeting in the rankings, with London dropping 12 spots to 46th, Edinburgh falling 22 places to 58th and Manchester finding itself in 44th after falling from 28th in 2022.

Kyiv wasn’t included in the 2022 index after Ukraine was invaded by Russia in March last year, but returned in ninth-last place in the 2023 report.

New Zealand’s Auckland squeezed into 10th position on the most liveable cities index, equal with Osaka in Japan.