Edinburgh is UK’s most ‘liveable’ city for expatriates, study finds

Edinburgh has been identified as the UK’s most “liveable” city for expatriates in an annual study.

The Scottish city was ranked 17th overall for the year 2021 in a global study which looks at living conditions in over 490 locations, to assess how easy or hard it would be for an expat to settle into a new life in these places.

Factors evaluated in the study generally included climate, health services, housing and utilities; isolation, access to a social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure; personal safety, political tensions and air quality.

Edinburgh moved up the ranking, compiled by global mobility experts ECA International, compared with 2020, when it was placed 21st.

It was ranked in joint 17th place with Hamburg in Germany for 2021.

ECA International said Edinburgh, along with Aberdeen (ranked 21st) and Cardiff (27th), benefit from the infrastructural and cultural perks of a larger city, including a big expat community.

London was placed at 42, rising from 55th position previously.

Glasgow was ranked at 51 for 2021, moving up 13 places from its “pandemic dip”, the study said.

Dublin was ranked in 10th place for 2021, having been ranked at 15 the year before.

Copenhagen in Denmark and Bern in Switzerland were placed joint first, scoring highly in several categories including air quality and personal security.

Neil Ashman, senior location ratings analyst at ECA International, said: “Successful vaccine rollouts have enabled much of Europe to reopen and regain a sense of normality to some degree.”