According to a survey conducted by InterNations, the cities of New York, London, Paris, Milan and Rome have obtained some of the lowest rankings in a global survey of over 15,000 people, representing 173 countries. Concerns about health care, safety, work-life balance, as well as housing affordability played a major role in the scores presented.
“Expats in large cities such as New York, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong or London struggle to find affordable housing and are generally dissatisfied with their financial situation. Expatriates in these cities are often dissatisfied with their balance between work and personal life,” says Malte Zeeck, founder and co-CEO of InterNations, an expatriate network based in Munich (Germany) with around 4 million members.
However, Spain shines on the other side of the coin, with four cities among the top ten locations rated by expatriates. Thus, the best cities to live in are Valencia and Alicante, ranking in the classification’s first two places. Furthermore, Malaga is in the sixth position, while Madrid is in ninth. In this way, Spain stands out for being one of the best places to live in the world. In addition to the four Spanish cities, Lisbon, Panama City, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi complete the top ten. In contrast, other cities, which in principle have more names on paper, have obtained shallow scores: New York appears in 34th position, London in 51st, Paris in 61st, Milan in 63rd and Rome in 64th, insignificant positions considering that only 66 cities were analysed. Spain wins by a landslide, thanks essentially to its way of life. As Bloomberg explains, the InterNations survey was carried out in March 2020 and therefore does not capture the full impact of the changes caused by the covid-19 pandemic. However, the sentiments collected in the survey echo the trends perceived this year.
