Melbourne Retains World's Highest Quality of Life

For the third year in a row, Melbourne has topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual Liveability report, narrowly edging out Vienna, Vancouver, and Toronto. "The ranking scores 140 cities on a scale of zero to 100 for each of 30 factors such as the quality of public healthcare or the threat of military conflict."

"A glance at the top ten shows that the cities that do best are mid-sized conurbations in countries with low population densities, because such conditions will often result in low crime, working infrastructure and lots of recreational activities," notes The Economist's Graphic Detail blog. "The comparatively poor performances of London and New York can be mainly attributed to their stability scores, which are low because of a perceived terrorism risk."