Switzerland's financial capital, Zurich, has beaten Copenhagen to take top place in an annual index of the world's top 25 most liveable cities.

In its third annual quality of life index, London-based global affairs magazine Monocle found that the Swiss city was the number one urban location to call home, pushing last year's winner Copenhagen into second place.

Tokyo came in third place while Munich - which topped the first index in 2007 - fell to fourth position, followed by Helsinki.

Rounding out the top 10 were Stockholm, Vienna, Paris, Melbourne and Berlin.

Monocle editor-in-chief Tyler Brule said it was a tight race, and admitted Zurich did not jump ahead for its nightlife.

"I think people need to remember that this is a quality of life survey. This is not a survey about the sexiest city or the best business hub in the world, or the world's cultural centres. This is about true liveability," he told Reuters Television.

He said the index was based on a number of measures, including investment in public transport, public safety, health, education, and the number of cinema screens in a city.

"We also look at the relationship a city has with its small and medium-size enterprises and Zurich scores incredibly high across all of those areas," he said.

Mr Brule said it was forward-looking investment in Zurich's transportation infrastructure that ultimately pushed it to the top of the 2009 index - and a relative scarcity of chain stores was also a mark in its favour.

In a 2009 survey of the cities with the best quality of life conducted by management consultancy Mercer, Zurich came second in the list, behind Vienna and ahead of Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland.

However in a list of "most liveable cities" by the Economist magazine's Intelligence Unit, Vancouver takes top slot with Zurich coming in ninth.