Melbourne's not just the world's most liveable city. It's also the happiest, a new survey shows.
A poll of 15,000 people from 32 cities - including Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo and New York - showed the Victorian capital outranks its competitors for happiness, a Time Out City Life Index said.
Melbourne was also rated the world's fourth most exciting city behind New York, Porto and the winner, Chicago.
Meanwhile, Sydney came in at number 28.
The survey looked at anonymous data across seven categories: food and drink, culture, relationships and community, neighbourhoods, affordability, happiness and liveability.
It found 89 per cent of Melburnians enjoyed living in the city, and nine out of 10 reported feeling happy in the previous 24 hours.
But go back a few years and Melbourne didn't even rate a mention in National Geographic's happiest cities schedule, with the Thai island of Koh Samui handed the crown.
Melbourne was in 2017 named the world's most liveable city for the seventh consecutive year by The Economist, while Sydney again finished outside the top 10.
But the NSW capital beat Melbourne as Australia's best destination in 2017, according to TripAdvisor.
When it came to the world's top 25 places to go, nowhere in Australia made the cut.
CITY SNAPSHOT ACCORDING TO TIME OUT
* Melbourne - happiest
* Dubai - longest working hours
* Washington - most singles on the dating scene
* New York - best nightlife scene, most stressed
* Paris - most sleep-deprived, most sex
* Chicago - most exciting
