We might not be New York, but Melbourne punches way above its weight in terms of art, culture, music and food, according to new research from Time Out. The Time Out Index is based on a survey of more than 30,000 people in 48 cities around the world, as well as Time Out's editors and city experts. We asked people about eating, drinking, culture, nightlife, relationships, community and how happy they were with their city. We crunched the numbers and came up with the definitive list of the best cities in the world right now. Melbourne came in at a very respectable number two, just behind the Big Apple.
It was confirmed last year that Melbourne is the live music capital of the world, with more live music venues per capita than anywhere else. And it turns out our citizens are making very good use of then, with one in four Melburnians heading to a gig in the past week. On average, we go to almost 17 live music gigs a year – not bad going.
We are also living in a world-class city when it comes to food (which we already knew was the case). A whopping 82 per cent of Melburnians rated their city as 'amazing' for food, and 76 per cent said it was 'amazing' for culture. Unsurprisingly, we are very keen on brunch – we go out for brunch on average once every two weeks.
All that food and culture make us happy little Vegemites – 84 per cent of Melburnians said they felt 'happiness' in the past 24 hours. That makes us the second happiest city in the world too – just behind Chicago, where 85 per cent of people reported feeling happy in the previous 24 hours.
All those good times take a toll, though – fully a quarter of respondents said they'd had a hangover in the past week, and more than half had had one in the previous month.
Of course, what you really want to know is how we compare to our northern neighbours, right? Sydney was ranked 39th in the world overall, and its denizens rated their city dead last for nightlife – thanks in no small part to the city's draconian lockout laws. Sydneysiders can take comfort that while we're dancing the night away, they are up at sparrow's to do some exercise – Sydney is the world's fittest city.