Osaka is the third most livable city in the world after Vienna and Melbourne, according to a recent global survey by the research unit of British magazine The Economist.

The western Japan city boosted its ranking from last year when it did not even make the top 10 cities. The report attributed the rise to its improvement in "quality and availability of public transportation, as well as a consistent decline in crime rates."

Calgary in Canada came fourth followed by Sydney and Vancouver. Tokyo was joint seventh with Toronto while Copenhagen in Denmark and Adelaide in Australia ranked ninth and 10th respectively.

The annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked 140 global cities based on safety, healthcare, educational resources, infrastructure and the environment.

Vienna overtook Melbourne by a small margin, after the Australian city had remained in top spot for seven years in a row.

Syrian capital Damascus remained the least livable city due to the ongoing war. The second worst scoring city was Dhaka in Bangladesh followed by Lagos in Nigeria and Karachi in Pakistan.