Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities, 2020

Report on the quality of life in European cities, 2020

European Commission, Directorate for Regional and Urban Policy October 2020 Introduction

• Cities are home to around 40% of the EU population. • Cities provide access to many different employment opportunities, better access to public transport, and proximity to many destinations which can facilitate walking and cycling. • Cities are important drivers of economic growth in the EU. It is in cities where most citizens live, where the biggest. share of the gross domestic product is generated, where a large part of EU policies and legislation are implemented and where a significant share of EU funds is spent. • Cities also face social and environmental problems, including poverty, high housing costs, discrimination, crime, air pollution and noise. • Since 2004, the European Commission has used a perception survey to regularly monitor the quality of life in European cities. This survey (5th edition) covers capital cities and other major cities in the EU, EFTA, the UK, the Western Balkans and Turkey. In 2019, 83 cities were covered in 58,100 interviews. Interviews were carried out between June and September 2019. • The report was prepared by DG REGIO, in cooperation with DG JRC and University of Brescia (IT). The report: 7 chapters

4. Moving around in the city 1. Satisfied to live in the city

5. Culture, squares, parks and health care in the city 2. A safe and inclusive city

3. Getting a job, finding a 6. Healthy cities house and earning a living

7. Quality of local public administration Satisfaction with living in the city

Pixabay License - Free for commercial use - No attribution required Are people satisfied to live in their city?

9 out of 10 Satisfied to live in their city

• Higher in non-capital cities (91% against 87% for capital cities) • Lower in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants • Large within-country difference, in particular in Italy, Greece and Turkey

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered How is quality of life in your city compared to 5 years ago?

38% 24% Increased Decreased

38% Stayed the same

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Getting a job, finding a house and earning a living

Pixabay License - Free for commercial use - No attribution required Is it easy to find a good job in your city?

Around 50% in western and northern EU cities Around 20% in southern EU cities

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Finding good housing at a reasonable price is difficult in large and capital cities

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered y = 0.5x + 0.5 Geneva R² = 0.5 100 Dublin Copenhagen Reykjavík Stockholm Amsterdam Oslo Vilnius Ljubljana Luxembourg 95

London Helsinki The financial Bratislava Tallinn Berlin Wien 90 Zagreb Lisbon Warsaw Brussels situation can have Prague Budapest 85 Paris a substantial Heraklion Madrid Nicosia Sofia Bucharest Valletta impact on the 80 Rīga Ankara satisfaction with living in a city 75 Rome

70 Tirana % of people people % of satisfied to city live in the Skopje Capital cities Istanbul Other cities 65 Athens Belgrade

60 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % of people satisfied with financial situation of the household

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Healthy cities Are people in European cities….

62% 65% 62%

Satisfied with Satisfied with Satisfied with air quality noise level cleanliness

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Are people satisfied with the quality of the air in the city?

49% in the 57% southern in capital EU cities cities

66% in non- capital cities

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Large cities are louder, according to their residents

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Satisfaction with the cleanliness decreases with city size

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered A safe and inclusive city

Pixabay License - Free for commercial use - No attribution required 80%

More people feel 67% safe in smaller cities

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Theft and assault is more common in large and capital cities

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered y = -0.2 + 31.7 R² = 0.2

Capital cities 45 Athens Skopje Other cities

Ankara Dublin 30 Amsterdam Luxembourg Brussels Berlin The lower the Helsinki 25 Sofia Belgrade Zagreb Rīga Budapest reported thefts … Geneva 20 Warsaw Tirana Ljubljana Prague Vienna Copenhagen 15 Rome Bratislava property 12months the in last property stolen Bucharest Paris Stockholm Madrid 10 Oslo Lisbon London Vilnius Tallinn 5

% people having someone or who money in the having someone household % hadpeople Valletta Reykjavík

0 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % of people who feel safe walking alone at night in the city

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered … the higher the % of respondents feeling safe y = 0.9x - 2.9 R² = 0.6

100 LuxembourgHelsinki Stockholm Dublin 90 Copenhagen Valletta Oslo 80 Geneva Vienna Ljubljana Madrid Berlin 70 Reykjavík

London Tallinn Amsterdam 60 Brussels Vilnius The more people Lisbon Ankara Zagreb Nicosia Paris Warsaw 50 Bucharest can be trusted … Prague Sofia Rome Belgrade Tirana 40 Bratislava Athens Budapest Capital cities 30 Other cities Skopje Rīga 20

% people agreeing % agreeing people most thatin can the be people city trusted 10

0 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % of people who feel safe walking alone at night in the city

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered

… the more respondents feel safe Share of residents saying that their city is a good place to live for ….

 Immigrants 75%

 Gay and lesbian The city is a good 78% place to live for people different kinds of people and communities  Elderly people 80%

 Young families 82% with children

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered y = 0.9x - 2.9 R² = 0.6

100 LuxembourgHelsinki Stockholm Dublin 90 Copenhagen Valletta Oslo 80 Geneva Vienna Ljubljana Madrid Berlin 70 Reykjavík

% people agreeing % agreeing people most thatin can the be people city trusted 10

0 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % of people who feel safe walking alone at night in the city

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered … the more respondents feel safe Tertiary: 80%

81% EU cities 68% Primary: 74% Eastern EU cities 37% Turkey, Western Balkans

 Cities are regarded as more inclusive more often than the country as a whole (+14 pp)

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Non-capital cities seen better for families with young children than capital cities

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Natural and built-up amenities

Pixabay License - Free for commercial use - No attribution required Cultural facilities: 8 out of 10 residents are satisfied (83%)

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered y = -0.9x + 85.6 Helsinki Luxembourg Rīga R² = 0.3 London Brussels Vilnius 100 Capital cities Vienna Tallinn Dublin Other cities Oslo Copenhagen 90 Stockholm Amsterdam Warsaw Ljubljana Zagreb Reykjavík 80 Prague Paris The less people Berlin 70 Budapest Lisbon have access to Madrid Bucharest Sofia green spaces … 60 Rome

Bratislava 50 Nicosia

Valletta 40

30 Athens % people satisfied with urban green the in city green areas with satisfied urban % people 20 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % people in the city with no access to urban green areas in their neighbourhood

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered … the less they are satisfied with green spaces Healthcare: 7 out of 10 residents are satisfied (78%), with big differences between Europe macro-regions

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Moving around in the city

Pixabay License - Free for commercial use - No attribution required Moving around in the city • Cars are used less in capital cities CAR: 5 out of 10 • Larger cities have more public transport users

• Only a few cities have a high share of daily cyclists

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: 4 out of 10 • Overall, three out of four city residents are satisfied with public transport

• High use of public transport and satisfaction with public transport go CYCLING: 2 out of 10 hand in hand • Frequent public transport is the most satisfying

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Satisfaction with public transport

The more people are satisfied with public transport in their city… …..the more they are satisfied to live in their city

Vilnius Amsterdam 100 Stockholm Helsinki Dublin Oslo Copenhagen Frequency and reliability are the two strongest 95 Ljubljana

Wien drivers of satisfaction with public transport Prague Reykjavík 90 Bratislava Warsaw Geneva Zagreb Lisbon Tallinn Confidence intervals at 95% Coefficient *** Very significant * Significant No stars: Not significant Brussels Berlin 85 Nicosia Madrid London Luxembourg 20% Paris *** Sofia 18% 80 *** Ankara Rīga 16% Rome Valletta Budapest Bucharest *** 14% 75 ***

% of people satisfied to live people city oftosatisfied % in the 12%

10% *** 70 Skopje y = 0.4x + 61.2 R² = 0.5 8% Tirana 6% Belgrade Capital cities 65 Athens 4% Other cities 2%

60 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Frequency Reliability Accessibility Safety Affordability % people satisfied with public transport in the city

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Satisfaction with local public administration

Pixabay License`- Free for commercial use - No attribution required Satisfaction with local public administration

56% 58% 76%

People agreeing that People agreeing that People satisfied with the procedures are online service is easy the time it takes to get straightforward and to access a request solved easy to understand

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered Satisfaction with local public administration

• Overall, 56% are satisfied with the time it takes to get a request solved

• People in non-capital cities are more satisfied (59%, against 51% in capital cities)

• Overall, 58% agree that local public administration procedures are easy to follow

• But less in capital cities (50% against 60% in non-capital cities) • Higher educated respondents have less difficulties to follow local public administration procedures

• Overall, 76% agree that online services are easy to access • Online access to city information is easier in northern and western EU cities • Higher educated respondents state more often that online services are easy to access Perceived corruption in the local public administration 5 out of 10 Agree that there is corruption in the local public administration of their cities

• Corruption is perceived as an issue more often by people residing in capital cities (57 %) than those in non-capital cities (47 %) • Trust in institutions is higher at the local level • If compared with data at the national level, on average, people perceive corruption at the local level less than at the national level

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered The less corruption is perceived in the local public administration of the city……

Stockholm y = -0.3x + 1.0 R² = 0.4 Luxembourg 100 Copenhagen Geneva OsloAmsterdam Vilnius Dublin Ljubljana 95 Reykjavík Wien Berlin Warsaw Bratislava Helsinki Zagreb Prague 90 London Tallinn Nicosia Budapest Lisbon …the more Brussels 85 Madrid people are Paris Sofia Bucharest Valletta Rīga satisfied to live 80 Ankara in the city 75 Rome

70 Tirana % of people satisfied city the people in to live satisfied % of Capital cities Skopje Other cities 65 Athens Belgrade

60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 There is corruption in my local public administration: total agree

Source: EC/DG REGIO Note: %s based on all respondents, excluding don’t know/not answered For questions: [email protected]

In the website:

• Report

• Interactive tools

• Additional maps and dot plot charts

• Aggregated data and microdata

• Accompanying material (i.e. technical and evaluation reports)

https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/maps/quality_of_life Thank you