Helsinki has been named as the fifth best city in the world to live in, coming one place behind Scandinavian neighbour Stockholm in the lifestyle magazine Monocle’s latest rankings.
Helsinki will be extremely proud of its latest rating by the magazine, which listed the top 25 most livable cities in the world, particularly as some of the previous highest-ranked cities, such as New York, Rome and London, didn’t even make it into this year’s list.
However, in proving how high the lifestyle is in the Nordic countries, the Finnish capital wasn’t even the second best place to live in the region, with the Danish capital Copenhagen being named as the place with the highest quality of living for factors including its tolerance, architecture, reliable public transportation, green space and culture.
Monocle explained that it’s easy to live in Copenhagen because it’s relatively safe, easy to get around by bicycle or on foot and there is an abundance of museums, parks, beaches, canals, restaurants and bars.
The Japanese capital Tokyo came second on the list, with Melbourne, Australia, ranked third. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the Norwegian capital Oslo was not named in the top 10.
In compiling its quality of life index, Monocle looked at factors like business environment, healthcare, culture, crime and education.