Ranked: The world’s 20 best cities to live in 2024

Lifestyle

Where are the world’s most liveable cities for 2024? Well, according to the Global Liveability Index, Australia’s capitals more than hold their own on the global stage.
Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The station’s current main building was completed in 1909 and is a cultural icon of Melbourne.

Melbourne has once again retained the title as Australia’s most liveable city on the much-anticipated Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, coming in at number four, narrowly ahead of Sydney (7th), Adelaide (11th), Perth (15th) and Brisbane (16th).

While it might seem like an impressive result for Australia’s capitals, not every city is celebrating. Melburnians, who have long prided themselves on holding top spot on this very list (seven years in a row to be exact) have struggled to reclaim its throne in the post-pandemic era.

Some 173 cities are analysed in the report on categories including stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.

Vienna still number one

For the third consecutive year, Vienna, Austria, has been named the world’s best city to live in.

Trends

What do the results indicate about global liveability? This year’s report shows a positive trend, largely due to improvements in healthcare and education in developing nations. However, these gains are offset by declining scores in several top-tier cities, with geopolitical risks also affecting the overall index.

Notable Changes

Europe, despite having eight cities in the top 20, faced the largest decline due to stability issues. Hong Kong showed significant improvement in stability and healthcare.


World’s 20 best cities to live in 2024

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Copenhagen, Denmark

3. Zurich, Switzerland

4. Melbourne, Australia

5. Calgary, Canada (tied with Geneva)

5. Geneva, Switzerland (tie)

7. Sydney, Australia (tied with Vancouver)

7. Vancouver, Canada (tie)

9. Osaka, Japan (tied with Auckland)

9. Auckland, New Zealand (tie)

11. Adelaide, Australia

12. Toronto, Canada

13. Helsinki, Finland

14. Tokyo, Japan

15. Perth, Australia

16. Brisbane, Australia

17. Frankfurt, Germany (tied with Luxembourg)

17. Luxembourg, Luxembourg (tie)

19. Amsterdam, Netherlands

20. Wellington, New Zealand


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Avatar of Samuel Hussey
Head of News & Life