The following article appeared in "The Advertiser", 5 October 2002.

Adelaide has been ranked in the top 10 cities of the world to call home. It rated eighth, tying with Sydney and Brisbane, in a survey of 130 cities commissioned by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Melbourne took equal top spot with Canada’s Vancouver, which were declared near perfect cities. Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby was rated the worst. The London-based EIU assessed the level of hardship for expatriates in the 130 cities, focusing on 12 factors including housing, education, recreational activities and climate. Not surprisingly, Melbourne’s weather prevented it earning a perfect score of zero, with the Victorian capital and Vancouver scoring one point, Perth two and Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane all on four.

Sydneysiders won’t agree, but Melbourne’s weather, based on humidity rather than rain and temperature, was adjudged better. And while Sydney received a near-perfect score in all categories, its high level of violent crime, on a par with New York and London, cost it points. "Really we found very little wrong with Melbourne, its just about the perfect city," said Bill Ridgers, editor of the EIU’s Cost of Living survey. "It got a perfect score in every single category we looked at, apart from slight faults in its humidity and the availability of recreational activities, but that’s really splitting hairs."

Cities were rated one to five in the 12 categories, with one at 0 per cent meaning there was no hardship and five, at 100 per cent, indicating extreme hardship.

Sydney earned a two for violent crime, the same as New York and London, while Port Moresby scored five.

The survey was conducted on expats' experiences. London was joint 44th on 13 points along with Hong Kong, Lisbon, Madrid and San Francisco. New York came 52nd on 16, the same as Dublin. New Zealand cities Auckland and Wellington both came 24th.