The Economist Intelligence Unit recently released their 2011 rankings of the best cities in the world to live in. These are annual rankings calculated using on a number of ‘quality of life’ factors. I’m not sure exactly how these factors are judged as they seem to be quite subjective but these are the 5 factors: stability, health care, education, infrastructure, and culture and the environment. It seems to me that most cities in most first world countries would have similar ranking when it comes to these factors but I guess there are a few subtleties that I’m not aware of.

10 Best Cities to Live in 2011

Canadian and Australian cities dominate the top of the list and the only European cities in the top 10 are Vienna and Helsinki. Here’s the 10 best cities to live in for 2011:

Vancouver, Canada
Melbourne, Australia
Vienna, Austria
Toronto, Canada
Calgary, Canada
Helsinki, Finland
Sydney, Australia
Perth, Australia
Adelaide, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand

All of these cities are nice, safe, provide good job and business opportunities and are all round good places to live. I have visited all of those cities except Helsinki and Auckland and out of those on the list would love to live in Vienna or Sydney. Vienna is one of the most beautiful, historical cities in the world and Sydney has great weather, great food, and great beaches.

You can read a brief summary of the the so called best cities at Shelter Offshore or watch a slideshow here.