Brisbane moves up liveability index but trails other Aussie cities

Brisbane has jumped two places on a global list of the best places to live — but that might not be much consolation when it’s compared to other Australian centres.

BRISBANE has jumped two places on a global list of the best places to live — but still trails every other state capital in Australia.

The city has risen from number 37 to 35 on this year’s Mercer Quality of Living survey, published today.

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Sydney and Melbourne each slip one spot to 11th and 17th, while Perth (21), Adelaide (29) and Canberra (30) are unchanged from last year.

Surprisingly, Brisbane rated worse than Sydney for personal safety — ranked equal 48th with Adelaide, while Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth shared 24th spot.

Austrian capital Vienna topped the worldwide list for the 10th year running, just ahead of Zurich in Switzerland.

Auckland in New Zealand, Munich in Germany and Canada’s Vancouver shared third place.

Sydney’s fall — blamed on traffic congestion — means Australia now longer features in the top 10.

The Brisbane City skyline at twilight

Mercer’s Global Mobility leader for the Pacific region Karla Costa said Australia’s high quality of life gave it a clear advantage in attracting international talent, but there was room for improvement.

“While safety, climate, medical and health services and quality housing are among Australia’s many strengths, low scores in the areas of traffic congestion and availability of international flights are letting us down,” she said.

“In a time when workforce demands are rapidly changing, with highly mobile talent and increased flexibility to meet the career and lifestyle aspirations of today’s workers, companies must now more than ever factor in to their value proposition the quality of life they can provide to their expatriate employees.”

European cities dominate the global list, with 13 of the top 20 positions.

Among Asian cities, Singapore has the highest world ranking at 25.

Baghdad in Iraq is bottom of the 231 cities ranked worldwide, but the report notes there have been improvements in safety and health services.

Vienna has been judged most liveable city in the world.

TOP 10 CITIES WORLDWIDE

1. Vienna (Austria)

2. Zurich (Switzerland)

3. Auckland (NZ), Munich (Germany) & Vancouver (Canada)

6. Dusseldorf (Germany)

7. Frankfurt (Germany)

8. Copenhagen (Denmark)

9. Geneva (Switzerland)

10. Basel (Switzerland)

AUSTRALIAN CITIES

11. Sydney

17. Melbourne

21. Perth

29. Adelaide

30. Canberra

35. Brisbane