EU Expats Prefer Scottish Cities Over Anywhere Else In Europe

In a recent survey of European expats’ most liveable cities, Edinburgh and Aberdeen came out on top, with not a single English city featured in the global top 20.

Scotland’s capital just made it into the top 20 at 19th position, whilst Aberdeen just missed, coming in at 21st. For both Scottish cities, their liveability ratings were boosted by high levels of personal security and less air pollution, but the main reason for their success was their existing expatriate communities.It’s well-known that would-be expats find adjusting to their new lifestyles and cultures far easier from within a supportive expat community, as it lowers the risk of isolation and lessens the inevitable culture shock felt by new arrivals when attempting to get to grips with a new workplace environment.

Worldwide cities favoured by expat professionals are surveyed annually by a number of expat-aimed companies using a selection of factors considered essential to a successful relocation. Nowadays, the liveability factor is increasingly important to potential expats thinking of moving their talents overseas as it includes sectors such as housing, cost of living, personal safety, air quality and especially political stability. This year’s survey saw northern European states heading the rankings, with Bern and Copenhagen jointly sharing the highest ranking and the Netherlands’ three major cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven all in the top ten along with Dublin, Luxembourg and Gothenburg. In contrast, London took a disappointing but unsurprising 49th place out of the top 50 cities surveyed, mostly die to high crime levels and poor quality air.