Last year Melbourne was voted as the live music capital of the world with more live venues per capita than anywhere else on the planet. The Economist magazine also named the city as the world’s most liveable as far as healthcare, education and infrastructure are concerned.

Now even more accolades come thanks to new research from Time Out that rates Melbourne as the second-best city of the world. People were asked about eating, drinking, culture, nightlife, relationships, community and how happy they were with their city.

Melbourne came just behind the Big Apple at number 2, punching way above its weight.

The index was based on a survey of more than 30,000 people in 48 cities around the world, including ratings by Time Out’s editors and city experts.

Findings included a whopping 84 per cent of Melburnians stating that they felt ‘happiness’ in the 24 hours before being asked to rate their joy. That made the city the second-happiest in the world, behind Chicago.

Sydney came in 39th in terms of city rankings, however they are the world’s fittest city.

  1. New York City
  2. Melbourne
  3. Chicago
  4. London
  5. Los Angeles
  6. Montreal
  7. Berlin
  8. Glasgow
  9. Paris
  10. Tokyo
  11. Lavapies, Madrid
  12. Cape Town
  13. Los Vegas
  14. Mexico City
  15. Manchester
  16. Geno’s Steaks, Philadelphia
  17. Barcelona
  18. Buenos Aires
  19. Lisbon
  20. Washington DC
  21. Tel Aviv-Jaffa
  22. Bandra, Mumbai
  23. Toronto
  24. Birmingham
  25. Dubiln
  26. Sao Paulo
  27. Miami
  28. Porto, Portugal
  29. Singapore
  30. Edinburgh
  31. San Francisco
  32. Dubai
  33. Munich
  34. Vienna
  35. Shanghai
  36. Kitay-Gorod, Moscow
  37. Delhi
  38. Seattle
  39. Sydney
  40. Abu Dhabi
  41. Hong Kong
  42. Boston
  43. Rio de Janeiro
  44. Marseille
  45. Bangkok
  46. Kuala Lumpur
  47. Beijing
  48. Istanbul