It's a High Five for Melbourne!

The annual Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index has named Melbourne, Australia as the world’s most liveable city for the 5th consecutive year.

The EIU’s Liveability Ranking assesses living conditions in 140 cities across the globe by assigning a rating across five broad categories, including: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.

Melbourne is the first city to have been given the accolade for five consecutive years.

Here are five lists of top five facts that make Melbourne the best city in the world to live for the fifth time in a row.

Arts

1. Melbourne offers one of the highest densities of commercial art galleries in the world.
2. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Ian Potter Centre houses the nation’s largest permanent collection of Australian art.
3. Museum Victoria is the southern hemisphere’s largest museum.
4. Melbourne is appointed a UNESCO City of Literature and home to Australia’s publishing industry.
5. Melbourne hosts more than 3,000 live music performances every week.

Eating and drinking

1. Melbourne’s inner-city bistros and cafes alone can seat a combined 178,320 hungry citizens at any one point in time.
2. There are more than 2000 cafes and a further 3000 restaurants in Melbourne.
3. Every day, on average, the Port of Melbourne handles 30 tonnes of coffee beans, enough to produce three million cups of coffee each day.
4. Victoria is home to over 850 wineries, including 650 cellar door experiences and 21 distinct wine regions.
5. The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival sees more than 200 events take place in just over two weeks, including the World’s Longest Lunch – one table with 1600 diners.

Wildlife

1. Although the state comprises just 3% of Australia’s total landmass, Victoria is home to 30% of Australia’s native animals.
2. There are 139 mammal species in Victoria including kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, possums, wombats, platypus and echidnas.
3. Victoria's parks are home to more than 4300 native plants and 948 native animal species.
4. In Victoria there are: eighty-seven species of lizard, fifty-two skinks, twelve dragons, eleven legless lizards, nine geckos, three monitors (goannas), twenty-seven species of snake.
5. Victorian natural ecosystems support at least: 111 mammals, 447 birds, 46 freshwater and 600 marine fish, 133 reptiles, 33 amphibians.

Sport

1. Melbourne is the only city in the world that has five international standard sporting facilities (including four with retractable roofs) on the fringe of its central business district.
2. Melbourne plays host to the Australian Open Tennis Championships, the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian 500CC Motorcycle Grand Prix, Spring Racing Carnival, the Australian Football League Grand Final and many other special events.
3. Melbourne is the only city in the world to host both the F1 Grand Prix and a tennis Grand Slam tournament.
4. The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) was established in 1853, less than 20 years after the founding of Melbourne. It was the birthplace of Australian football in 1859, Test cricket in 1877 and one-day international cricket in 1971.
5. Melbourne is the home of the ‘race that stops the nation’ with the Melbourne Cup Carnival attracting over 343,000 visitors from 42 countries in 2014. This year will be the Carnival’s 155th year.

Festival city

1. Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival first launched in 1987 at a media conference hosted by Barry Humphries (as Sir Les Patterson) and Peter Cook. It is now amongst the world’s top three comedy festivals (with Edinburgh and Montreal) and in 2014, hosted 6,488 performances by 2,228 artists.
2. Melbourne’s International Jazz Festival typically sees more than 40,000 people attend over 100 public events, with over 500 international and Australian artists performing.
3. 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of Melbourne Festival, during which time, 11 Artistic Directors have turned it into one of the finest on the international stage. In 2014, 1000 artists from 23 different countries participated in 15 world premieres and 21 Australian premieres at 30+ venues across the city.
4. Melbourne Fringe Festival 2014 saw more than 6,000 artists take part, presenting over 400 shows, exhibitions and events. Over 322,000 attended festival events across the city.
5. White Night Melbourne will be back in 2016! The popular dusk to dawn outdoor arts festival runs from 7pm to 7am attracting 1.3million visitors in its first three years.

More about Melbourne....