Where in the World...

How does living in Adelaide city compare to other cities in the world?

By Katie Stedman

There are almost 200 countries in the world, and thousands of different cities. If you ever have the privilege of choosing where to live, how might you go about deciding, when there are so many cities to choose from?

Whilst it is by no means the only place to look, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) releases a Global Liveability Index report online every year, which ranks the liveability of close to 170 cities worldwide. There are five categories that are used: Stability, Healthcare, Culture & Environment, Education, and Infrastructure.

Australia usually does quite well in these rankings. In the last ten years, Australia has consistently had multiple cities in the top ten rankings, including frequent placings by Adelaide. Melbourne actually broke a record with seven consecutive years in the number one spot, from 2011-2017. In recent years, Adelaide’s biggest success was in the 2021 Global Liveability Index, where we came in as the third most liveable city in the world.

In 2021, during a year of lockdowns and uncertainty, Adelaide was faring much better than other cities, including all other Australian cities. We scored 100% in the Healthcare and Education categories, and our lowest category was Culture & Environment at 83.8. Adelaideans had the right to feel quite proud of our little city.

And then the 2022 Global Liveability Index was released. Adelaide has gone from being ranked at number three down to number thirty. Other Australian cities have dropped too, and there is now only one Australian city in the top ten rankings — something that hasn’t happened for quite some time. That city is Melbourne, which just sneaks into the tenth spot.

So, what happened? Well, it had a lot to do with Covid restrictions. In 2021, Australian cities had done quite well in the rankings, which was linked in part to the response to Covid, as the border restrictions meant that the majority of us could live fairly normal lives. However, in 2022, when a lot of the world was slowly getting back to normal, Australian cities, such as Adelaide, were quite slow to remove restrictions. This led to a lower ranking.

The response to Covid will still have a part to play in how the rankings will unfold this year. However, I believe the biggest impact on rankings for 2023 will be the government’s response to the rise in inflation and cost of living.

It is my hope, though, that Adelaide will rise through the ranks in the future to be seen as one of the top cities of the world once more.