Ask a thousand people which city they think is the best city in the world to live in and you could get a thousand answers. Some will answer based on their love of music, art, sporting facilities, architecture, beaches, climate, the cost of living or the rate of crime. The list is endless.

But each year an objective world-wide survey is done to come up with this answer.

The Global Liveability Survey, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit annually across 140 cities worldwide, aims to establish how each city ranks in terms of liveability across five key categories.

These categories include stability, health care, culture, environment, education and infrastructure. This year, the top 10 most desirable cities to live in are found in just five countries, with Australia topping the bill with four of its major cities ranked in the top 10.

For the second year in a row, with a near perfect score of 97.5, Melbourne comes out on top as the best city in the world to live in.

The other three Australian major cities surveyed, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth also scored high. The fifth Australian city to be surveyed, Brisbane, ranked in twentieth place.

“Australian cities continue to thrive in terms of liveability,” said Mr Copestake, the survey editor. “Not only do they benefit from the natural advantages of low population density, but they have continued to improve with some high profile infrastructure investments.”

This coupled with excellent schools and universities, moderate climate, world class health care and a focus on culture and the arts makes for some unbeatable living conditions.

Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary ranked third to fifth places respectively and this firmly cements Canada as a worthy contender when deciding where to live, work or study.

Equally worthy of consideration are the other three cities which are included in the 2012 top 10 cities: Auckland in New Zealand, Vienna in Austria and Helsinki in Finland.