Most Livable My Arse

Listening to the radio yesterday I finally got an answer to the puzzle of why Sydney and Melbourne rank so highly on those ‘most livable city’ lists.

These lists are actually compiled by international HR firms and relate to the costs of relocating corporate expats to different countries.

The list of most livable cities is inversely proportional to the cost of enticing corporate types to a city. The easier it is to entice an expat to a city, the lower the cost of doing so, and hence the ‘more livable’ tag.

Given the salaries and packages that expats receive these lists should not be construed to infer any general sense of ‘livability’ of a city.