What makes a city “liveable”?

While we might think it’s the ready availability of cheese bars, crisp cafes and a gin hotel, consulting firm Mercer – who put together a yearly list of the world’s most liveable cities – have more sensible parameters.

The firm examine the crucial aspects of living, such as housing, political stability, medical considerations, schools and recreation, in over 450 cities across the world to compose their list of the best places to set up camp.

And while this year’s selection shows Europe to be a brilliant place to live, with the top 10 list dominated by western European cities, those of us living in the UK might want to consider jumping ship. 

London was our most liveable city, coming in at a miserable 40^th place, while Edinburgh was ranked 45^th and Birmingham and Glasgow tied at 53^rd.

The most liveable city in the world was named as Vienna in Austria, which won top place for the eighth year in a row.

Read more: These are the world’s best cities to live in for quality of life, according to the people who live there

“Vienna provides a safe and stable environment to live in, a high level of public utilities and transport facilities, and good recreational facilities,” the Mercer report noted last year.

You can see the top 10 cities in the list below:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Auckland, New Zealand
4. Munich, Germany
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Basel, Switzerland and Sydney, Australia (tied)