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A new study conducted by language learning app Preply reveals the best European cities for raising children.
- The city of Galway, Ireland ranks among Europe’s top ten cities for raising children
- Galway’s high score is largely down to its ‘Leisure & Lifestyle’ prospects and the city also ranks as Europe’s 7th best for air quality.
- Capital of Portuguese island Madeira, Funchal, ranks as the best city in Europe for raising a family
- Other cities making up the top ten include Trieste (Italy), Lisbon (Portugal), Edinburgh (UK), Reykjavik (Iceland), Prague (Czech Republic) and Helsinki (Finland).
- England capital London ranks as worst city in Europe for raising children
Looking to inspire parents and parents-to-be seeking a change of scenery whilst also considering a child’s opportunity to thrive, a study conducted by language learning app Preply reveals the best European cities to raise a family.
Analysing over 130 European cities and their prospects across three categories - ‘Education’, ‘Health and Safety’ and ‘Leisure and Lifestyle’, contributing factors include teacher to student ratios, educational attractions and recreational spaces (per capita), healthcare accessibility, length of maternity leave, air quality and more.
The top contenders
Ranking top is the city of Funchal, found on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Scoring among the top ten for all three categories, the city’s ‘chart-topping’ performance is owed to it having the lowest crime rate of all, low air pollution levels and a cheaper cost of living. Portugal’s student to teacher ratio also falls just shy of the top ten in Europe, ranking 11th.
Turning attention to how Irish cities place, Galway makes it into the top ten of best cities for raising children, whilst Cork places among the overall top twenty five.
Placing sixth, Galway’s high score is largely down to its prospects in the ‘Leisure & Lifestyle’ category. With a good choice of green spaces (parks) and an even more impressive choice of sports centres (per capita), the city scores big. The harbour city also ranks as Europe’s seventh best for air quality, whilst also having free healthcare and 156 days’ paid maternity leave on offer.
AdvertisementRanking as 25th best city to raise children is Ireland’s second largest city, Cork. Cork’s most impressive accolade is for air quality levels, as it places in joint second for the cleanest air among all 131 cities analysed, beaten only by Marseille, France and ranking joint second with Aalborg, Denmark. The city also scores among the top ten where choice of parks (per capita) and percentage of those in post-compulsory education are concerned.
The other two Irish cities included in the study are Limerick and Dublin. The city of Limerick also ranks respectably, placing among Europe’s top 30, offering a good choice of museums and green spaces (per capita). Dublin draws the shortest straw as it gains itself a mid-way rank of 66th overall. The country’s capital suffers in comparison to other European cities but also in comparison to its fellow Irish cities, largely due to its high crime rates, high cost of living and a poor ratio of resident to recreational space.
Others making up “Europe’s Top 10’ include Trieste, Italy which ranks second overall but also in the ‘Education’ category and comes top for ‘choice of historical landmarks’. Whilst UK city, Edinburgh, secures top marks (ranking 9th) thanks to its great educational prospects.
As the only country that features in the top ten twice, congratulations are order for Portugal, as the city of Lisbon ranks third best in Europe thanks to its good score where air quality is concerned (5th). Reykjavik (Iceland), Prague (Czech Republic), Helsinki (Finland), Aarhus (Denmark) and Graz (Austria), complete Europe’s top ten cities to raise children (see infographic for more).
Ranking last overall
Unluckily, high crime rates, high pollution levels and a poor distribution of educational attractions per 100,000 residents (per capita) mean that in comparison to other cities, the city of London, UK places the lowest in the overall ranking, followed by fellow UK city, Coventry and Polish city of Katowice.
How Irish cities ranked
Ireland rankingCityCountryEuropean overall rankingEducation rankingHealth & Safety rankingLeisure & Lifestyle ranking1GalwayIreland61823122CorkIreland253837203LimerickIreland292167164DublinIreland66457169Methodology
Scoring and ranking of 131 European cities based on a combination of factors spanning the Education, Health and Safety and Leisure and Lifestyle categories.
Sources include Numbeo (Crime Index), IQAIR (Air quality), Tripadvisor (number of landmarks, museums, sports centres, parks), various sources via Google (healthcare accessibility, length of paternal leave) and the European Commission Index (post compulsory education rates 2018, teacher to student ratios 2019 and education expenditure 2019). Data normalised to account for population differences (per capita).
About Preply
Preply is a global language learning marketplace, connecting 140,000 tutors with tens of thousands of students from all over the world.
Founded in 2012 and backed by some of the world’s leading investors, Preply is on a mission to shape the future of effective learning. Fueled by a belief that live engagement with a teacher is still the most effective way to learn a new skill, Preply is building a personalized learning space that will enable individual learners to reach their goals in the fastest way possible.
By examining the profiles of 1,000 CEOs from the Forbes list of largest global companies, Preply developed a ranking and index score of the best schools for the profession.
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