The Economist Intelligence unit, has ranked 140 global cities on 30 criteria covering stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.

Winter Olympics’ host Vancouver remains No. 1 , scoring 98.0, despite its unfortunate lack of snow, while Vienna was ranked second with 97.9 and Melbourne remains the third most livable city in the world with score of 97.5 on 100.

Canada had three of the top five cities, with Toronto ranked fourth and Calgary fifth.

Half of the top 10 cities come from lands Down Under. Sydney was seventh, Perth and Adelaide equal eighth and Auckland tenth.

London was ranked 54th with a score of 88.4. European cities were ranked the most livable by region but only Vienna and Helsinki (sixth) made the top 10.

Johannesburg, home of the 2010 soccer World Cup, ranked just equal 92nd with a score of 69.1, the same as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, who were the main hosts for the 2014 World Cup.

New Delhi, host of this year's Commonwealth Games, ranked 113th with a score of 58.6. It was the best of the cities that will host the 2011 cricket World Cup, with Mumbai 117th, Colombo 132nd and Dhaka equal 138th.

Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, is declared as the most unlivable city in the survey, with a total score of just 37.5.