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A Thoroughly Liveable City
1. Melbourne was awarded the title of the best city in the world twice in a row, in 2002 and 2004. As part of its worldwide cost of living service, the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit published a biennial survey assessing the level of hardship for expatriates. The hardship rating assessed 130 cities by hardship rating by looking at 12 factors grouped by categories: health and safety; culture and environment; and infrastructure and services. (Source: www.businessmelbourne.com.au)
2. In the 2003 Global Cost of Living Survey by Mercer, Melbourne was deemed a cost effective city when it was ranked 111 out of 114 cities in relation to cost. (Number 1, Tokyo, was ranked the most expensive city). (Source: www.mcvb.com.au) Victoria recorded the highest home ownership rate (43.7%) in the 1996 Census of Population and Housing, followed by New South Wales (42.5%) and Tasmania (42.4%), while the lowest was recorded in the Northern Territory (17.8%). (Source: www.abs.gov.au) And there are no death duties or inheritance taxes in Victoria to reduce the family inheritance. (Source: www.legalaid.vic.gov.au)
3. All the Australian cities covered by the survey rank higher than New York, the base city. Adelaide is the highest-scoring city in Australia at position 35 (score 119.5) while Sydney is the lowest in 62nd place (score 111.3). Melbourne is ranked 17th. (Source: Mercer Consulting in a survey, April 2007)
4. Melbourne's drinking water is highly regarded by the community. Most of our water comes from uninhabited mountain ash forests high up in the Yarra Ranges east of Melbourne, and more than 157,000 hectares has been reserved for the primary purpose of harvesting water. These water supply catchments have been closed to the public for more than 100 years. Some of them are now National Parks managed by Melbourne Water and Parks Victoria. Melbourne is one of only about five cities in the world that has such protected catchments. (Source: www.melbournewater.com.au)]
5. When Melbourne was named ‘The World’s Most Livable City’ in 1990, it scored a perfect 10 out of 10 for clean air (Source: Population Crisis Committee, Washington, DC). Melbourne’s air quality has steadily improved over the past 15 years and is ranked as 'good' by international standards. (Source: www.epa.vic.gov.au) 
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