Relocation experts Movinga have released a study that reveals which cities around the world provide optimal conditions to raise a family. After analysing the best cities for various opportunities such as finding love, education, employment, or starting a new business, Movinga decided to turn their attention towards the fundamental features of a city that concern parents or parents-to-be when looking to make a move. The result is a comprehensive new study that examines 16 diverse factors that, combined, make a city a great place for families to live.
I had a chance to interview Marta Blanco, VP Marketing at Movinga, about the results.
What makes the best cities so great for families?The top three cities - Helsinki, Finland, Quebec, Canada and Oslo, Norway - all have generous Paid Parental Leave, high-quality Education, and excellent Healthcare. They also performed well according to the opinions of local parents, who rated them highly for neighbourhood safety and general family-friendliness.
If parents decide relocation is their best option, what are some ways to start that process?The first step should be to do lots of research online, as the more information and research you can do ahead of time, the easier the process. Things such as reading forums and blogs about the different areas of the city you’re moving to, for example, and asking questions such as ‘What are the schools like? Are there good transport connections? Are there green areas for children to play in?’ It’s always a good idea to get opinions from the people who live there already.
How can parents work to improve their own communities to make them better for families?The neighbourhood safety opinion poll we conducted of local parents asking whether they feel comfortable letting their child walk to the shop alone was very revealing about how parents feel about their cities in general. There was a general correlation between high ratings in this factor and the family-friendliness poll and the city safety score, which goes to show that feeling safe in their community is a big concern for parents. With gun control in the US for example, we’ve seen cases of parents who have gotten together to lobby politicians about creating safe spaces for their children to play and grow up in.
What makes the best cities so great for families?The top three cities - Helsinki, Finland, Quebec, Canada and Oslo, Norway - all have generous Paid Parental Leave, high-quality Education, and excellent Healthcare. They also performed well according to the opinions of local parents, who rated them highly for neighbourhood safety and general family-friendliness.
If parents decide relocation is their best option, what are some ways to start that process?The first step should be to do lots of research online, as the more information and research you can do ahead of time, the easier the process. Things such as reading forums and blogs about the different areas of the city you’re moving to, for example, and asking questions such as ‘What are the schools like? Are there good transport connections? Are there green areas for children to play in?’ It’s always a good idea to get opinions from the people who live there already.
How can parents work to improve their own communities to make them better for families?The neighbourhood safety opinion poll we conducted of local parents asking whether they feel comfortable letting their child walk to the shop alone was very revealing about how parents feel about their cities in general. There was a general correlation between high ratings in this factor and the family-friendliness poll and the city safety score, which goes to show that feeling safe in their community is a big concern for parents. With gun control in the US for example, we’ve seen cases of parents who have gotten together to lobby politicians about creating safe spaces for their children to play and grow up in.
How the study was conducted:
To begin the study, Movinga first selected 150 international cities that have a reputation as attractive locations for raising a family, as well as for their availability of high-quality and comparable data. The study was then split into numerous factors across three categories which indicate how family-friendly a location is. This included essentials that affect city livability like housing, education, employment rates, and general affordability, as well as family legislation such as the amount of paid parental leave and whether a city is inclusive for same-sex parents.
It was important to include the opinions of the families who experience these cities themselves, so Movinga commissioned two surveys of parents in each location to gain a measurement of public sentiment towards them. The first survey asked parents to indicate how they felt about their children’s safety in the community, and the second if they believed that their city was a good place for families in general. Last by not least, the study analysed the attractiveness and breadth of a city’s family-oriented leisure activities.
The final index combines all of these factors to determine the top cities around the world that offer the best conditions to raise a family.
To view the results and full methodology of the study, please refer to the results page here: https://www.movinga.de/
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