The healthiest capitals in Europe

The corona pandemic is affecting the health awareness of many people. In Germany, the topic of health has grown in importance since the beginning of the pandemic, shows a survey by the market research institute Ipsos on behalf of the British health company GSK Consumer Healthcare. Accordingly, around two out of three respondents said it was important to them to take care of their health in order not to overload the health system.
But even before the pandemic, their own health played a major role for many Germans, according to a survey by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in 2017, it even had priority over education, partnership and income. At the same time, less than a third of those surveyed were satisfied with their own state of health – also because they lacked regular exercise.
In addition to your own personal habits and factors, the environment also plays a decisive factor in your own health. For locations, the quality of life is particularly crucial. The British medical portal treated.com has determined which European capitals stand out in particular and which factors support a healthy lifestyle there for 46 European capitals.
The portal determined an index from ten different factors. This includes:
- the water, air and general quality of life
- the average life expectancy
- the average CO2Emissions
- the percentage of people who walk or ride a bike to work
- the cost of fruits and vegetables
- the cost of the one month gym membership
- the state of green spaces
- the percentage of expenditure on health care as measured by gross domestic product (GDP)
These European capitals are the healthiest places to live
@imago images / YAY Images
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# 10 Ljubljana
The Slovenian capital takes tenth place in the ranking. The prices for fruit and vegetables are in the lower mid-range. The air quality is high and there are significantly more green spaces than in most of the capitals in the ranking.
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# 9 Podgorica
Podgorica made it to ninth place. Fitness studios and groceries are cheaper here than in Ljubljana. There is no shortage of exercise: almost half of the Montenegrins (44.44 percent) walk or cycle to work.
@imago images / Pro Shots
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# 8 Amsterdam
There is even more movement among the residents of the Dutch capital. They bring it to 62.03 percent – and thus represent the highest value in this category. Big point deduction: Only three of the 46 capitals in the ranking beat the water quality.
@imago images / agefotostock
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# 7 Vilnius
Lithuania’s capital takes seventh place on treated.com. Similar to Podgorica, the prices are rather low. However, the air quality is significantly better, which may not least be due to the many green spaces. You won’t find them in any other European capital.
@imago images / Panthermedia
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# 6 Stockholm
Stockholm is also full of green spaces. The Scandinavian city also offers good air and a long life expectancy. However, work could still be done on the food costs here. These are more than twice as high as in Vilnius.
@imago images / Bildgehege
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# 5 Berlin
Our German capital makes it to fifth place in the ranking. Above all, it scores points for its CO2 emissions and green spaces. 51.78 percent walk or cycle to work. The air and water quality is rather mediocre. Berlin does poorly when it comes to prices for fruit and vegetables.
@imago images / robertharding
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# 4 Helsinki
Helsinki is the second Scandinavian capital in the top 10. There is a big plus for the best water quality, a big minus for the high fitness and food costs. The climate-friendly movement to the workplace is less popular than in Berlin, although the air is of particularly good quality.
@imago images / Loop Images
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# 3 Bern
Third place went to Bern. Nowhere else in Europe is government health expenditure as high as here, as is life expectancy at over 90 years. The capital city residents seem to like to spend more money on this. The gym membership costs more than Helsinki and Berlin combined.
@imago images / robertkalb photographs
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# 2 Vienna
In contrast, the prices for the gym are low in Vienna, but those for groceries are high. The city scored points in many categories. The Viennese could still walk more to work.
@imago images / Aurora Photos
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# 1 Copenhagen
Unsurprisingly, the ranking is led by another Scandinavian capital. The second-best quality of life of the 46 ranked cities should be found here, as well as a lot of climate-friendly exercise. In terms of life expectancy, however, Copenhagen lags behind the places two to six.