Melbourne makes it three years in a row as world's most liveable city

Melbourne is the world's most livable city for a reason.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• A three-peat for southern Australian city of Melbourne
• Damascus drops 10 places to bottom of the rankings
• Canadian, Australian, New Zealand cities make up eight of top 10

 Melbourne made it three years in a row as the world's most livable city, according to the 2013 Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Livability Survey.

The top cities and indeed much of the rankings remained similar to last year, with Australian and New Zealand cities landing five of the top 10 spots. Canadian cities made up another three of the top 10 positions.

Elsewhere in the EIU rankings, 28 cities saw changes in their rankings with negative livability changes driven by "civil unrest, with the Arab Spring, European austerity and Chinese discontent all contributing," according to the EIU report.

Vienna came a close second while Canadian cities Vancouver and Toronto stayed at third and fourth; Calgary tied with Adelaide for fifth place.

The top spots are mostly "mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density," said the EIU.

At the bottom of the list, due to ongoing civil conflict in Syria is Damascus -- dropping 10 rankings.

A total of 140 cities were surveyed under five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Scores in each category and sub-category are compiled and weighted to give a total out of 100. 100 is considered ideal and 1 intolerable.

The report noted a few major changes. Madrid dropped five spots to 44th due to "unrest and protests," but remains in the top tier of livability. The Slovakian capital of Bratislava moved into the top tier (a score of 80 or above), now at 63rd place in the ranking.

Tehran, Douala (Cameroon), Tripoli, Karachi, Algiers, Harare, Lagos, Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Damascus (are at the bottom of the list with conflict responsible for many of the lowest scores, the report stated.

Global Livability Survey

Top 10 most livable cities (unchanged in 2013 from 2012):

1. Melbourne, Australia, 97.5

2. Vienna, Austria, 97.4

3. Vancouver, Canada, 97.3

4. Toronto, Canada, 97.2

5. Calgary, Canada, 96.6

6. Adelaide, Australia, 96.6

7. Sydney, Australia, 96.1

8. Helsinki, Finland, 96.0

9. Perth, Australia, 95.9

10. Auckland, New Zealand, 95.7

On CNN Travel: Insider Guide to Melbourne