10 Best European Cities for Immigrants to Live in for 2023

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Cardiff (UK), Lisbon (PT), and Braga (PT) are considered the three best cities to live in for immigrants in 2023, a Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities revealed.
• Non-capital cities are often seen as a better place to live compared to capital cities, which are more crowded and often have housing issues.
• On average, three out of four residents, equivalent to 73 per cent, said that their city was a good place for immigrants to live in.

The Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities by the European Commission has revealed that Cardiff in the UK is considered the best place to live for immigrants in European countries, with a score of 95 per cent.

More specifically, 95 per cent of residents said that the British city is a good place to live for immigrants, LGBTIQ people, older people, as well as families with children, while Lisbon in Portugal secured the second position with a score of five per cent less than Cardiff.

The report also revealed that non-capital cities are often seen as a better place to live, as the list further shows.

Within the EU, people who are foreign-born, i.e., born in another EU Member State or outside the EU, are more likely to live in cities. They represent 15 per cent of the population of cities, compared to 10 per cent in towns and six per cent in rural areas. 

The Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities 2023

Foreign-born people are considered to be more likely to be impacted by the quality of local-level policies, providing that they are more likely to be unemployed and live in overcrowded facilities.

The third country that is considered best for this category is Braga, in Portugal, which scored a total of 89 percentage points, followed by Groningen in the Netherlands with 88 percentage points.

The report further reveals that, on average, three out of four residents, equivalent to 73 per cent, said that their city was a good place for immigrants to live in. In the EU, cities in the northern regions are considered better cities for immigrants – 79 per cent, while cities in the eastern countries scored lower, with only two out of three residents claiming so, equivalent to 67 per cent.

Spanish and Portuguese cities were also quite favourable since at least 84 per cent of residents considered their cities to be good places for immigrants to live.

Gdansk in Poland, Barcelona in Spain, Tyneside conurbation in the United Kingdom, and Hamburg in Germany were ranked fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, with a percentage score of 87 per cent, each.

With only one percentage point difference, Helsinki (Finland) and Glasgow (UK) are considered the ninth and tenth best cities for immigrants to live in, with a percentage score of 86 per cent each.

Some countries, such as Croatia, had higher rates for some cities, compared to the national levels, such is the case of Zagreb, with 66 per cent of respondents believing that the Croatian capital is a good place to live for immigrants, while the national level is 42 per cent.

The same goes for Poland (87 per cent for Gdańsk versus 65 per cent), Slovakia (71 per cent for Bratislava versus 50 per cent), and Türkiye (75 per cent for Antalya versus 52 per cent).

On the other hand, for some cities, like Paris, the country is perceived as a more positive place for immigrants to live in, with 75 per cent of respondents claiming so, while the capital is less preferred – 54 per cent.

The same goes for Rome (54 compared to 75 per cent), Ljubljana (57 compared to 72 per cent), Brussels (71 compared to 88 per cent), and, outside the EU, Skopje (33 compared to 49 per cent).