Things at home are looking up! Melbourne was just named as the third most liveable city in the world, and the most liveable city in Australia, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for 2026. We just inched up the rankings, after appearing in fourth place for the last two years. Also featured in the top ten were Sydney at number four, and Adelaide in eighth place.
Top Ten Most Liveable Cities for 2026
- Copenhagen
- Vienna
- Melbourne
- Sydney
- Zurich
- Geneva
- Osaka
- Adelaide
- Vancouver
- Tokyo
Global Liveability Index 2026
The Index, which ranks 173 cities around the world, takes into account more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors spanning five categories: stability (25%), healthcare (20%), culture and environment (25%), education (10%), and infrastructure (20%).
Overall, Western Europe continues to be the strongest region for liveability, with Copenhagen in the top spot for the second year in a row. But, its average score has stagnated, while Asia’s has risen. Chinese cities have notably jumped up the rankings, due to improved scores in healthcare. Meanwhile, the Iran War led to a drop in rankings for cities around the Middle East.
There weren’t any major shifts for cities in the Top Ten, with the scores remaining largely the same. However, Zurich and Geneva did drop slightly in the rankings, due to declines in their culture and environment scores.
Melbourne received an overall score of exactly 97. Our city scored 100 for both healthcare and education. We also received 96 for culture and environment and infrastructure. Finally, for stability, we received a 95.
Sydney, which ranked sixth place last year, rose up in the list, coming just behind us with an overall score of 96.6. Once again, they scored 100 for healthcare and education. They had 96 for infrastructure, 95 for stability and 94 for culture and environment.
Finally, Adelaide had an overall score of 95.9. They also received full marks for healthcare and education, with a 96 for infrastructure, 95 for stability and 91 for culture and environment.
If you’d like to read more, you can check out the summary report here.
