Most livable cities include Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary in top 5

An annual list ranking the world'smost livable cities has once again given props to three in Canada.

• 2014 most livable cities
• 2013 most livable cities

The list, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), affiliated with the Economist magazine,putsVancouver third, Toronto fourth and Calgary in a tie for fifth with Adelaide, Australia.

Melbourne, Australia, took first place for the fifth consecutive year.

Five years ago, Vancouver topped the global list, Toronto wasfourth and Calgary was fifth.

The topical report ranks 140 cities worldwide based on living conditions andchallenges affecting lifestyles.These include weighted categories such asstability, health care, culture and environment, educationandinfrastructure.The results are scored and ranked, pitting cities against one another.

Since 2010, 57 of the cities surveyed "have seen declines in livability" due in part to issues affecting stability and safety.

Citiessuch as Detroit, Athens, Moscow, Tunis, Kyiv, Tripoli and Damascus saw some of the most dramatic drops in the global index.

Here's the full top-10list:

• Melbourne, Australia.
• Vienna, Austria.
• Vancouver, Canada.
• Toronto, Canada.
• Calgary, Canada, tied with Adelaide, Australia.
• Sydney, Australia.
• Perth, Australia.
• Auckland, New Zealand.
• Helsinki, Finland, tied with Zurich, Switzerland.

In January,the Economist named Toronto as the best city to live in globallybased on itstop 25 list ranking "index of indexes," which measuresa variety of factors includingsafety, livability and cost. Montreal followed with a second-place showing in the overall list.

The January report referred to Toronto as a "consistent performer across the five otherindexes" compiled by the EIU. Thelargest city in Canada was also named the eighth safest city worldwide.