Copenhagen Best As Northern Europe Dominates Expat Liveability Rankings.
Copenhagen has done it again. The Danish capital regularly tops charts on all kinds of metrics around quality of life and happiness. Now, Copenhagen retains its crown—jointly with Switzerland’s Bern—as the world’s top destination for European expats. Cities in Scandinavia and Northern Europe once again dominate the top 20.
The annual global liveability survey from ECA International rates cities on their quality of life for Europeans abroad. Cities are ranked on a range of liveability factors including health service availability, housing and utilities, infrastructure, climate, personal safety, political tensions and air quality. Personal factors important to expats including an ‘isolation’ score and access to a social network are also taken into account in the rankings.
Copenhagen consistently scores well, for now
As for Copenhagen, it’s the clean air, good facilities and low crime rate that tipped the balance.
Neil Ashman, Senior Location Ratings Analyst at ECA International, said in a press release that northern European cities have consistently scored well for expat liveability: “Excellent transport links, a high standard of healthcare and long-term political stability, mean that overseas workers from elsewhere in Europe can adapt to these locations with ease.”
However, Copenhagen’s low crime rate is under threat after a number of concerning incidents during 2019. Two bombs in the space of four days rocked the city in August. A few months later, border checks were introduced on the Swedish border in a bid to curb the terrorism and gang violence that has plagued Sweden’s Malmö in recent years.
Northern Europe dominates
Other Scandinavian cities ranking well include Norway’s Stavanger (5th), Sweden’s Gothenburg (9th) and Stockholm (19th), and Denmark’s Aarhus (12th).
Harald Minge, leader of Stavanger’s trade association is not surprised that the Norwegian city ranks well. He told NRK that the region relies on about 20% foreign labour: “Those who come here get a frictionless introduction. We have worked on this for 15 years, and now have courses on Norwegian culture and skiing, and 80 other events in English.”
The Netherlands also ranks well. Four Dutch cities feature in the top 20, including the design and technology hub Eindhoven, which climbed one place into this year’s top five.
Canada beats the U.K.
The survey also suggests that Canada offers Europeans a better experience than the U.K.
Toronto and Vancouver are the highest ranked non-European locations on the list, beating several major European capitals including London. “Despite the distance, Canadian cities have always provided a high quality of life for European expats. Choosing Canada to bring up their new family means they will experience lower crime levels, good public facilities, and better air quality,” said Ashman.
Edinburgh is the only British city to make the list in 19th place. While Brexit isn’t specifically mentioned, the survey states that “pollution, crime rate and terrorism threats” all impact the liveability of major UK cities.