ECA International has compiled a report of the most liveable cities for European Expats, and Vancouver scored second in the world outside of Europe.
The company provides data on the cost of living, salary, accommodation, tax, labour law, benefits and quality of life for international assignees across the world.
The company looked at a variety of factors to determine the global ranked which included: climate, availability of health services; housing and utilities; isolation; access to a social network and leisure facilities; infrastructure; personal safety; political tensions and air quality. Most of the cities were in other neighbourning or nearby European countries.
The ranking includes 480 cities around the world, with the top cities found in Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
“Cities in Scandinavia, Switzerland and the Netherlands have offered good livability across the board for many years now, with factors such as excellent infrastructure, reliable transport systems, and a high level of healthcare all contributing to their consistently excellent livability score,” said Neil Ashman, Senior Location Ratings Analyst at ECA International, global mobility experts.
Outside of Europe, however, Canada ranked the most liveable country for expats. In fact, the most attractive city outside of Europe was Toronto, followed by Vancouver in second. Ottawa placed third and Montreal came fourth. What’s more, these four cities scored better than some that were much closer to home, such as Belfast, London, and Glasgow.
“Canadian cities have always featured high up in the rankings for European expatriates thanks to low crime levels, good public facilities, and little air pollution. The only anomaly to this was in 2017 when Montreal briefly dropped in the rankings following severe flooding. The city has since recovered well since the floods and risen five places in the latest survey, essentially returning to its original position,” explained Ashman.
Singapore was the only country in Asia that cracked the top 100 list, due in large part to the fact that English is spoken there.
“Asian cities tend not to feature so highly for European expats due to significant differences in climate and language,” he said.
Here are the top 20 most livable cities for European expats:
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Bern, Switzerland
- The Hague, Netherlands
- Geneva, Switzerland
- Stavanger, Norway
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Basel, Switzerland
- Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
- Gothenburg, Sweden
- Dublin, Ireland
- Aarhus, Denmark
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Bonn, Germany
- Munich, Germany
- Vienna, Austria
- Hamburg, Germany
- Stockholm, Germany
- Edinburgh, UK
