Canberra has done it again! The nation’s capital has been ranked the best city in the world for quality of life. This makes it the second year in a row in the 2026 Oxford Economics Global Cities Index.

The annual index assesses 1,000 cities around the world across five categories: Economics, Human Capital, Quality of Life, Environment and Governance.

While Canberra ranked first globally for Quality of Life, it ranked lower for other categories. It ranked 13th for Governance, 89th for Environment, 140th for Human Capital and 211th for Economics. Overall, Canberra climbed seven places to 45ᵗʰ in the index for all categories.

The report identified Canberra’s strengths but also its weaknesses. It seems Canberra has less economic diversity, a smaller GDP and larger temperature anomalies. But still, if quality of life is what you are after – Canberra has it!

Canberra was one of seven Australian cities to make the global top 100. Taking in all categories, Sydney was Australia’s highest-ranked city (13th), followed by Melbourne (16th), Brisbane (36th), Perth (44th), just ahead of Canberra (45th), while Adelaide (70th) and Gold Coast (78th) also made the top 100. This means most Australian cities are pretty good options when deciding where to live in Australia.

At the top of the global rankings, New York retained first place, followed by London and Paris. Oxford Economics says eight of this year’s top 10 cities also appeared in the top 10 in 2025, reflecting the relative stability of the world’s leading cities.

So find out for yourself Canberra’s quality of life when you visit.

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