Melbourne has been ranked the best city to live, according to the Global Liveability Survey released by Economist Intelligence Unit.

Among the 140 cities that were surveyed, the second place goes to Vienna, Austria, followed by Vancouver, Canada. Australian cities of Adelaide, Perth and Sydney, too, find spot in the top 10 cities, Brisbane Times reported.

Washington D.C is the other North American city at 14th place.

Close to 140 countries were analyzed to find the best city to live in. These cities were ranked based on factors such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Reacting to the news Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle told ABC it was great news for the city. "Overall it is a remarkable testament to our remarkable city and I think we should be very proud of that. Too often, even in our own wonderful city, it's a bit easy to find the things that we think have gone wrong. What this tells us is that on a world scale, that there isn't a more livable city and I think that's a great outcome for our city," he said.

This is the second consecutive time that Melbourne has been declared best city to live in, ABC reported.

"Australian cities continue to thrive in terms of livability - 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," EIU survey editor Jon Copestake said in a statement.

According to a summary of the report, the ranking of the top 65 cities remain identical to six months ago, when the last survey was undertaken.  This suggests that some economies are recovering from the global economic crisis, bringing a sense of stability.

This annual report by EIU helps quantify the challenges facing an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide; reliably calculate expatriate relocation packages and benchmark perceptions of development across different cities.

The world's top 10 most livable cities:


1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Canada
5. Adelaide, Australia
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Helsinki, Finland
9. Perth, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand