Australia

Australia ranked seventh globally for quality of life in 2025, with Melbourne and Sydney consistently topping the Economist Intelligence Unit's most livable cities rankings, outperforming New Zealand's Auckland by 15 points in the global livability index. Australians enjoy universal public healthcare (Medicare), high median incomes, and remarkable natural environment access. Despite challenges including housing affordability pressures and ongoing climate-related extreme weather events, Australia's Human Development Index score of 0.951 kept it firmly among the global elite, but it is 0.02 points lower than Iceland's leading score.