Clean air and low crime rates are among the most important attractions for European expatriates, according to ECA International. Three Scandinavian cities are on the Top 10 list of World’s most livable cities. Read on to find the complete Top 10 list.
ECA International annually ranks places based on the living conditions for expats in 500 different cities around the world. The consulting agency assesses, among other things, the availability of health services, housing situation, access to social networks and leisure activities, living costs, air pollution, personal safety, as well as social and political tensions.
Stavanger in Norway is the most livable Scandinavian city while former joint number one Copenhagen falls to fifth place globally due to housing availability issues. Gothenburg in Sweden ranks number eight together with Amsterdam and Basel.
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Related: Workplace Bullying of Expats Working or Studying in Scandinavia
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Bigger cities in other European countries feature further down the rankings owing to some of the negative issues associated with larger urban centers. For example, Berlin ranked 35th this year, while Paris ranked 41st. Moscow ranked no. 189.
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Related: Conquering Challenges as an Expat in Scandinavia
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“It is not surprising to see smaller European locations like Stavanger, Copenhagen and Gothenburg on the top ten,” says Neil Ashman, Senior Location Ratings Analyst at ECA. “They tend to have excellent facilities and infrastructure, as larger cities do, but they also benefit from lower crime rates and air pollution levels than big cities,” and adds, “Copenhagen is still a great city for expatriates, it remains very livable but has seen shortages of suitable housing in recent times which has seen it drop in the ranking slightly.”
The 2023 Location Ratings represent the situation in November 2023, with all scoring accurate at the time of publication. The rankings are compared with those from five (2018) and ten (2013) years ago.
Three Scandinavian Cities on Top 10 List of Europe’s Most Livable Cities, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): Old Stavanger. Photo © Visit Norway/FotoKnoff AS/Sven-Erik Knoff