What does Australia have to offer?
The city of Sydney, among other cities in Australia, is once again listed as one of the most livable cities in the world today, an independent international study showed.

Sydney beat other global cities including Paris, San Francisco and London to the top ten positions.

Sydney is one the favorite destinations of immigrants because many of them prefer to live near family and other settlers from their own country of origin, according to a report.

In their official website, Mercer said that they conduct the ranking to assist governments and companies to have a better information in giving fair compensation to employees assigned to work internationally.

The rankings they say are based on a point-scoring index, which sees the city of Vienna rank number one while the other Australian state capitals included in the top 40 survey are listed as Perth ranked 21st, Canberra 26th, Adelaide 32nd and Brisbane 36th.

Melbourne slipped a notch this year to 18th place, while New York ranked 40th among the 221 cities covered by the survey.

The survey gave Sydney 106.3 points compared to Melbourne's 104.8 points and New York's index score of 100.

Mercer stated in their report that the new cities that were surveyed include prominent capital and other major cities from across the world that are in the firm's database, adding that it is a reflection of where companies are sending their expatriate employees in the current business environment.

Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer commented: "As the world economy becomes more globalized, cities beyond the traditional financial centers are emerging as attractive places in which to expand or establish a business. Cities in many emerging markets, such as in the Middle East or Asia, have seen a significant influx of foreign companies and their expatriate employees in recent years."

"To ensure their expatriates are compensated appropriately, an adequate hardship allowance is included in their benefit package. Many companies seek a clearer picture of the quality of living in these cities. We have reviewed our index to reflect these developments and it now better represents the cities that most interest our clients," Mr. Parakatil said.

The Mercer survey is based on 39 criteria, including political, socioeconomic, environmental, health, education, and transport.

The NSW Government is building on Sydney's fantastic reputation overseas with an exciting new $10 million tourism campaign to attract more visitors from overseas.

Sydney is one of cities in the world selected by FIFA to host a World Cup live site on June 11 in Darling Harbor, making the city officially part of the world's biggest event.