Sydney
Australia
Sydney is Australia's largest city and the capital of New South Wales. The metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and stretches from the Pacific coast to the Blue Mountains in the west. In June 2025 it had an estimated 5.6 million inhabitants, about two-thirds of the state's population.
The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Sydney No. 4 in its Global Liveability Index 2026, with an index score of 96.6. Monocle placed it No. 5 in its Quality of Life Survey 2026. Condé Nast Traveller (UK) readers voted it No. 9 in the Readers' Choice Awards 2026, with a score of 92.72, and the magazine points to the "indoor-outdoor way of life" that visitors enjoy there.
Aboriginal Australians lived in the Sydney region at least 30,000 years ago, and the Darug, Dharawal and Eora clans are the traditional custodians of the land. In 1788 Arthur Phillip arrived with the First Fleet of convicts and set up a British penal colony, the first European settlement on the continent. After the Second World War the city saw mass migration, and by 2021 more than 40 per cent of its residents had been born overseas. Wikipedia notes that, although it is one of the world's most expensive cities, Sydney often appears among the ten most liveable.
Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) · Monocle · Condé Nast Traveller (UK)
Place =2
In 3 of 6 rankings, together with 3 others named by the same number of rankings. The more trusted rankings name an entry, the higher its place; inside a shared place, votes decide the order.
0 votes · 0 voters
1 vote ($1.99) to pass Paris
Named by
On Instagram
A post shared by @cityofsydney on Instagram