A new study has revealed that Sydney is one of the least friendly places in the world… In fact, we’re the third-worst city in the world to make friends, apparently.
Sydney is what most people think of when they hear ‘Australia’ as most people tend to picture either the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Sydney Opera House. But I’m sorry to say fellow Sydneysiders, that while our city is pretty iconic, we are officially unfriendly bastards.
According to Time Out’s 2022 Index study, Sydney was ranked as the third-worst city in the world when it comes to making new friends. Almost 75% of respondents agreed that “making new friends was either hard or impossible in Sydney”. And I have to say, I agree.
I grew up on the South Coast and only moved to Sydney six years ago and boy, oh boy was it hard to make new friends. I don’t want to generalise but most Sydneyites seem to make friends in high school or in the early years of university, and then cling to them; meaning they are uninterested in letting new people into their inner circle.
It took me at least two to three years to find Sydneysiders that genuinely wanted to be friends with me; not just acquaintances or ‘drinking buddies’ that I’d see once or twice a month.
Sydney is also apparently terrible for single people wanting to get down and dirty. Time Out’s study found that 71% of people think “Sydney [is] a hard place to hook up”. I wouldn’t know, as I got pretty lucky in the love department years ago on a Contiki tour…
I do know, however, that our nightlife is terrible; Sydney is second-worst in the world when it comes to nightlife. Of course, extreme lockout laws (that were only repealed in February last year) are to blame for killing Sydney’s nightlife and COVID restrictions stopped our nightlife from a potential revival.
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It’s not all doom and gloom though; the majority of people agree Sydney is a beautiful city and only 11% of people think it’s “dirty”. But overall our city ranks 53rd in the world while Melbourne ranks 15th; I bet Melbournians are feeling pretty smug right now.
So, fellow Sydneysiders, let’s mop the floor with them next year and all try our best to be nicer and friendlier to strangers, okay? Oh, and if you’re wondering which city ranked number one, it was Edinburgh for being progressive, welcoming, beautiful and walkable and for having a buzzing nightlight complete with “forward-thinking bars and eateries”.
In all honesty, Sydney seems to have a long way to go if we ever want to be the best city in the world. But let’s be hopeful and get started on some self-improvement, shall we?
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