Madrid voted finest European city for expats in comprehensive survey

The Spanish capital is affordable, friendly, and boasts great weather.

Madrid, the capital city of Spain, has ranked highest among European cities in the latest global survey of expats’ favoured worldwide cities.

More than 14,000 people were surveyed in the latest poll by InterNations, which is the largest networking service for expats globally, and the results showed that Melbourne in Australia is the outright favourite expat destination, but Spain – with Barcelona and Madrid both in the top 17 – was well represented…

The InterNations Expat Insider 2016 survey has been called the most extensive study ever conducted that explores the general living situation of expatriates, and so its results are likely to be taken as gospel by would-be jetsetters.

Expats surveyed are asked to rate several elements of life overseas, including career prospects, work-life balance, quality of life, the weather, and the attitudes of the local population.

Houston in the USA surprisingly took second spot behind Melbourne, while following Madrid in fourth was Dusseldorf in Germany, with Singapore in fifth place.

Madrid scored especially highly among expats who felt that the locals went out of their way to make them feel at home, while the excellent weather and low cost of living also helped push the Spanish capital into third.

Barcelona ranked 11^th and was praised for its bustling leisure and social activities and solid prospects.

Elsewhere, it was a case of the usual suspects on the list – Berlin, Vienna, Toronto, Munich, Sydney and Geneva – and the top 20 was notable for having zero British cities in there: the high cost of living and generally poor weather pushing cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester out of the running.

London limped in 27^th out of the 35 cities included in the survey, scoring particularly poorly on safety and security, as well as quality of life.