Melbourne is named as one of the world’s most liveable cities

Melbourne has once again been named one of the world’s most livable cities after plunging down the rankings due to harsh Covid lockdowns. 

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, released on Thursday, ranks Melbourne the world’s third-best place to live, up from number 10 last year. 

The Victorian capital went under six lockdowns between 2020 and 2021 under the Dan Andrews government, totalling 262 days and giving it the record of the world’s longest time in lockdown. 

The Victorian capital holds the record for the longest time in Covid lockdown at 262 days  under Premier Dan Andrews (pictured)

‘From the most locked-down city to the world’s third-most livable city is pretty darn good,’ Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Sally Capp told The Age.

Taking out the top spot was Austria’s capital Vienna, while Denmark’s capital Copenhagen was at number two – both holding their spots from last year.

Other Australian capital cities also fared well with most jumping in the rankings significantly compared to last year.

Sydney rose 11 spots from 13 to number four, while Perth and Adelaide were awarded a tie for 12th place, jumping up from 32 and 30 respectively.

Brisbane was ranked the world’s 16th most livable city, up from number 27 in 2022. 

Ms Capp said it was ‘cute’ to see Sydney close behind Melbourne.

‘We’ll leverage this competition to push us to do better, work harder and achieve our rightful position at the top once again,’ she said.

Five categories were assessed stability, culture, education, healthcare and infrastructure. 

Melbourne pipped Sydney only in terms of culture, scoring 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 enthralled by Melbourne’s theatre and hospitality scenes.

‘There’s so many bars in Brunswick, there’s so many in the city,’ Ms Negrette said.

The pair said they first moved to Melbourne during Covid lockdowns and found it hard, but now love the city after it reopened. 

The said they might consider a move to Sydney where they could be more jobs but Melbourne, being slightly cheaper and having a thriving grassroots theatre scene, was exactly what they wanted for now.

Melburnians are once again enjoying the city’s many bars and cultural hotspots (pictured are revellers is Prahran)

Many businesses barely struggled through the drawn-out closures and strict rules 

Across the ditch, New Zealand cities also fared well with Wellington jumping 35 places to number 23 and Auckland rising 25 places to number 10. 

‘The removal of Covid-related restrictions has overall boded well for global liveability in 2023,’ Upasana Dutt, Head of Liveability Index at EIU, said in a statement.

‘Education has emerged stronger with children returning to schools alongside a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and healthcare systems, with some notable improvements in cities across developing economies of Asia and the Middle East.

‘As the world’s political and economic axis continues to shift eastwards, we expect the cities in these regions to move slowly up our liveability rankings.’

It seems European cities are also taking longer to recover from the last few years compared to Asia-Pacific cities with London, Edinburgh and Stockholm dropping in the rankings.

‘None of these cities has seen a particularly sharp decline in their index scores, but they have failed to make the gains that many other cities – particularly those in Asia – have made in the past year,’ the report reads.