London has risen from seventh to second place in the Youthful Cities Index, but one city still beats it.
The British capital is the most popular place in Europe for young people to live, but New York City is the global winner for youth desirability. NYC rose two places in this year’s survey.
The index was introduced last year, in which London ranked seventh. This year, the capital came first in the areas of safety, health and travel, pushing Berlin down to third. 2014’s winner Toronto fell below San Francisco and Paris to sixth place. But London did not compare to NYC in the music, film and fashion categories.
London is also the second most sustainable city in the world, behind Frankfurt, due to high house prices.1
In the Youthful Cities Affordability Index from October London came sixth, behind Paris, Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago and Berlin, because of expensive rent, pricey public transport and high sales tax. NYC, however, came tenth.
Toronto-based strategic consultancy Decode conducts the index by surveying over 10,000 young people in 55 countries on topics such as safety, affordability, diversity and food.
Nine cities in North America, five from Europe and three in Asia came in the top 20, with Tokyo in 12th place.
Mexico City is the highest ranking of Latin American cities, in ninth place, with Tel Aviv in the Middle East in 14th place. Africa was included at 35th place with Johannesburg.
Cofounder of Youthful Cities, Sonja Miokovic, says: “Half of the world’s population is under 30-years-old and half now live in cities. Youth and cities, especially the largest ones, will together shape the future of the planet. That’s why it is essential for cities to appeal to youth and actively find ways to unlock their potential.
“We are at a time of unprecedented opportunity to transform the places we live, work and play by engaging the world’s largest untapped resource: youth!”1
Data revealed that Tehran is the most affordable city to live, followed by Detroit. San Francisco and Mexico City have the best employment prospects, and San Francisco is also the best place for environment and entrepreneurship. Toronto is the best city for diversity, Madrid for digital access, Warsaw for education, and Tokyo for food and nightlife.
Moscow won in three areas: public space, sports and financial services.
The city with the highest youth population, the percentage of the total population aged between 15-29, is Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.