NEWS: Canada/Australia Dominate "Best Place To Live" Study

A survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has concluded Vancouver, Canada is the best place to live out of 127 cities considered. The survey took into account the level of personal risk, infrastructure and the availability of goods and services in each city and ranked them accordingly. 3 of the top 10 cities are Canadian and 4 are Australian.



The Top 10 list of Cities are:

01.Vancouver
02.Melbourne
03.Vienna
04.Geneva
05.Perth
06.Adelaide
07.Sydney
08.Zurich
09.Toronto
10.Calgary

I'd agree that Melbourne is a great place to live since I've lived here most of my life. I find it interesting though that American cities suffered in the list because they are potential terror targets but number 2, Melbourne, was recently the explicit target of Al Qaeda.

The commonwealth must be doing something right if 7 of the top 10 countries are part of it.

[edit on 3/10/05 by subz]

Mod Edit: Per Author Request.

[edit on 10/4/05 by FredT]

Terror of the sort you have in mind is the least of the problems for Amerca's major cities. I'd say it, but the truth is forbidden.

I've given serious consideration to the idea of immigrating to Vancouver. I fell in love with that city back in the early 60's and nothing has changed my mind since then. If only it were a little further South.

I`ve never been to Canada but would love to one day,Grizzly bears the only draw back.

Other than that Melbourne over Perth???some disinfo here me thinks

I think the list usually looks this way every year.
By the way, I'm in number 10. I don't like it much .

Vancouver is drug city. Not my ideal place to live in Canada.

I live in central canada. Not the best here. Unless you enjoy poverty and living on a space that makes you wonder if the earth really is flat.

*music cue*

" I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and...."

I'm in #9.

It's a nice city, I can't complain. Great nightlife, large green spaces, good schools, good jobs, close to the US....

Waaaah!
Poor America we have none.

Scandinavia usually dominate these type of lists. Im surprised at the shift away from Scandinavia in this one.

Yeee haarr for Melbourne!!

Yeah, im about an hour away now and lived there for about 6 years. Australia rules. So much space, so well planned!! Melbourne the southern most city in the southern hemisphere, still comes up with the trump card! Well done to all the aussie cities!! We do well in the great southern land!

Originally posted by subz
Scandinavia usually dominate these type of lists. Im surprised at the shift away from Scandinavia in this one.

I would tend to agree with.

Odd not to a see a big chunk in this list, as every year they are normally the top.

Although I haven't lived in my home town (or country for that matter) of "#2" for about seven years now, I still do feel a great sense of pride every year as she comes up so high on the list, and deservedly so. I think Melbourne actually made number one a few times. However, after travelling around the world, you realize that Australian cities are really just overgrown, cozy country towns. It's annoying when you visit home after traversing the globe and everyone expects you to describe other countries and cities in 5 words or less, yet they won't shut up about the new 30-storey "skyscraper" in town.

Aye, whats the deal with this new skyscrapper fest going on in Melbourne?

The Eureka tower is already huge and its still being built. Is it going to be the World's tallest building?

edit: Bothered to look it up. Its going to the be the highest appartment building in the world at 92 stories (300m high). It'll be the same height as the Eiffel Tower and will be tipped off with a golden upper fascade (containing real gold no less...) meant to catch the suns light.

[edit on 4/10/05 by subz]

I've lived in 2 and 6 and not living in them at the moment, or on the continent at all, just makes me appreciate that I really was born in the lucky country.

I'd have to put Adelaide above Perth if only because Perth is at the arse end of nowhere, it's the most distant capital city on earth! From Adelaide I can drive to Melbourne in a day, fly in an hour...but Perth...

Never been to Canada, but I've worked with a bunch of Canucks, and from what they say Canada is like Australia but with more snow and dodgy Yank-like accents. Still haven't worked out how to tell them apart, but then nobody else can tell the difference between Kiwis and Aussies.

Hmmm Melbourne over Sydney Surely our beaches in Sydney make up for everything else that Melbourne has on us

Originally posted by subz
Scandinavia usually dominate these type of lists. Im surprised at the shift away from Scandinavia in this one.

True... That´s country and not city. The Norwegian´s are spread over a big area (the biggest city Oslo has less than 500,000 inhabitants). I guess Oslo can´t compete with these other cities, but Norway can as a country.

Country profile: Norway (BBC)

The Kingdom of Norway enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world.

UN surveys have repeatedly found it to be the best place in the world to live.

Population: 4.6 million (UN, 2005)

Area: 323,759 sq km (125,004 sq miles)

Nice to see Melbourne as #2 - fabulous city - but Perth over Sydney - no way. I demand a recount.

Ahh, the Sydneyite's always come out of the woodwork to make a fuss when these results come out. It's "Best Place to Live", folks, not "Best Place to Visit on Holiday Then Realize the Gold Coast is Way Better". *scampers away quickly*

Is it just me, or is the "Eureka Tower" the stupidest name for a building ever? And I thought "Freedom Tower" was bad. And what's with the gold top? Every time you see it, are you meant to shout out "Eureka!" because you saw gold? Lame...

Originally posted by subz


The Top 10 list of Countries are:

01.Vancouver
02.Melbourne
03.Vienna
04.Geneva
05.Perth
06.Adelaide
07.Sydney
08.Zurich
09.Toronto
10.Calgary

What I want to know is when did these top ten cities become contries?

I am an American who currently lives in Canada. I moved from Detroit, a city that could only be described as one of the worst places to live in the United States, to London, Ontario Canada. And while London did not make the list of "best places to live", I am sure that this is only because it is not a major metropolitan center. In my opinion, London, Ontario is one of the best places to live anywhere.

Nicknamed, the Forest City, London is a city of about 400,000 people. Situated along the Thames River (yeah, our London also has a Thames River), London, Ontario Canada is a beautiful city with treed avenues, foot and bike paths and numerous well maintained parks. Throughout the year there is plenty to do in London from biking to skiing, from enjoying cultural events to Heavy Metal concerts in our new John Labbatts Centre, this is a lively "happening" city.

www.london.ca...

What I love the most about London is that it is situated in the Centre of Southwestern Ontario between Detroit and Toronto allowing us relatively easy access to the best that two large urban centers in two countries have to offer. It's a great place to live.