Melbourne gets global bragging rights after scoring the world’s most liveable city gong for the fifth year in a row.

The Australian city wins the top honour in the annual Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with an almost perfect score of 97.5. The report lists 140 cities worldwide based on a variety of lifestyle issues such health care, education, culture, environment and infrastructure.

The trendy city is home to hidden bars, cobblestone laneways, live music and sensational coffee, making it a favourite with tourists and locals alike. Don’t all come at once though; it likes to remain a little bit edgy and underground.

Melbourne is in a constant battle with its more beautiful sister city, Sydney, which came in at No. 7 on the list. The harbour couldn’t dazzle and blind the judges this time, with the smaller city of Adelaide even beating it to the top five.

In this year’s report, the most startling fact is not the cities sitting pretty at the top — their liveability rating has barely changed — but the fact liveability across the world has fallen by 1% due to a decline in stability and safety, the EIU explained.

“While this may seem marginal, it highlights that 57 of the cities surveyed have seen declines in liveability over the last five years,” the report states. The EIU puts this decline down to incidences such as the shootings in France and Tunisia, conflict zones in Syria, Ukraine and Libya, along with civil unrest in the U.S.

Top five most liveable:

1. Melbourne, Australia

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Vancouver, Canada

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Adelaide, Australia (tied)

5. Calgary, Canada (tied)

Least five liveable:

136. Tripoli, Libya
137. Lagos, Nigeria
138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
139. Dhaka, Bangladesh
140. Damascus, Syria

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