Vienna ranks #1 in the world as the most liveable city

That’s right! Mozart would be so proud. The Austrian capital, Vienna, has beaten Australia’s Melbourne to be named the world’s most liveable city of 2018.

It’s the first time a European city has topped the rankings of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) annual survey.

The worldwide league table ranks 140 cities on a range of factors, including political and social stability, crime, education and access to healthcare.

In the survey, Manchester saw the biggest improvement of any European city, rising by 16 places to rank 35th.

Manchester’s rise puts it ahead of London in the rankings by 13 places, the widest gap between the two cities since the survey began two decades ago.

The EIU said Manchester’s jump in the rankings was due to an improved security score.

According to the survey, nearly half of the cities have seen their liveability ranking improve over the past year.

Melbourne, which was ranked second in this year’s global rankings, had previously come top for seven years running.

Two other Australian cities also made this year’s top ten: Sydney and Adelaide.

At the other end of the scale, war-torn Damascus in Syria was ranked the least liveable city, closely followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh and Lagos in Nigeria.