Sydney 'Best City in the World'

December 2005

Sydney Australia is the third best city in the world to live in, according to a website poll which questioned 17,500 people from 18 different countries.

Only London and Paris rank higher than Sydney for climate, transport, cost of living, leisure, sports facilities and culture.

But on climate, cleanliness and physical attractiveness, Sydney actually ranked Number One... beating 30 other countries in the poll.

So it won 1st and 3rd places...

The index was prepared by US-based research company Global Market Institute (GMI) and US consultant and author, Simon Anholt from data gleaned from people who registered on the GMI website.

They said Sydney's leading ranking and image could be attributed to one icon and one event: the Sydney Opera House and the Year 2000 Olympic Games. In fact it was the Olympic Games which lifted Sydney's image and produced an average international awareness of 87% in the poll.

The Sydney Opera House proved the city's most famous monument, beating all other Sydney 'must-see' tourist icons, including Bondi Beach, Darling Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Few of the people who took part in the survey had actually visited Sydney Australia, which helped to prove it's high popularity came from the Olympics in 2000.

58 percent of US respondents and 59 percent of the Canadians selected food as Sydney's most endearing feature.

71 percent of Australians, 59 percent of the English, and 53 percent of Germans who took the poll named Sydney's great shopping as the highlight of their trip.