The Australian city of Melbourne has been named the ‘best city in the world to live in’ for the fifth year in a row.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, came second to the Australian city in the ‘Global Liveability Ranking,’ followed by the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Toronto, and Australia’s Adelaide.

Unsurprisingly, the Syrian city of Damascus–which has been ravaged by that country’s civil war was last on the list of 140 major cities.

It was followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, Lagos and the Libyan capital of Tripoli, which has also been the victim of conflict-ridden insecurity.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey took account of cities’ healthcare, education, safety, culture, environment and infrastructure.

Melbourne again achieved a near-perfect score of 97.5 out of a possible 100.

Vienna recorded an impressive 97.4, Vancouver 97.3, Toronto 97.2 and Adelaide – the second Australian city in the top five – got 96.6.

In contrast, Lagos scored 38.9 placing it 137th (or 4th from bottom) in the world.

“Those that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density,” the EIU report said.

“These can foster a range of recreational activities without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure.”

But the world has become a more dangerous place to live according to the EIU report, which said the global ‘stability score’ fell by 2.2 per cent over the last five years.

You can read the full report here.