Affordability, safety, and air quality rarely coexist in one place
As more than 300 million people now live outside their countries of birth — a figure nearly double what it was in 1990 — the question of where to build a life abroad has never carried more weight. Global Citizen Solutions has attempted to answer it with data, ranking 35 cities across six continents on the factors that quietly determine whether a life transplanted takes root or withers. Lisbon emerged at the top not by excelling in any single dimension, but by being genuinely good across all of them — a quiet argument that sustainable wellbeing is found not in glamour, but in consistency.
- With 304 million international migrants worldwide, the pressure to identify truly liveable destinations has moved from aspiration to urgent practical necessity.
- The central tension in any relocation is that affordability, safety, and social integration rarely converge — most cities trade one quality against another.
- Global Citizen Solutions built a seven-indicator framework — covering cost of living, healthcare, air quality, safety, English proficiency, ease of settling in, and passport mobility — to make those trade-offs visible and comparable.
- Lisbon scored 88.49, winning not through dominance but through rare cross-category consistency, outperforming Paris, Rome, and Barcelona on safety while remaining one of the index's most affordable major cities.
- European cities claimed four of the top five spots, with Amsterdam second, Melbourne third, and Vienna fourth, while Dubai's 19th-place finish quietly separated the idea of expat prestige from genuine liveability.
More than 300 million people now live outside the country where they were born — nearly double the figure from 1990 — and the question of where they should go has never been more consequential. Global Citizen Solutions, a residency and citizenship advisory firm, released its first-ever expat liveability ranking to address exactly that, testing 35 cities across six continents against seven measurable criteria: cost of living, safety, air quality, healthcare, ease of settling in, English proficiency, and passport mobility rights.
When the scores were tallied, Lisbon came out on top with 88.49. Its victory was not built on any single standout category but on an unusual consistency — affordable by major European standards, clean air, a safety score that surpassed Paris, Rome, and Barcelona, and solid healthcare. As the firm's researchers noted, the real difficulty in relocation is that these qualities rarely coexist. Lisbon, it turns out, is one of the few places where they do.
Amsterdam followed in second place with 81.97, its score lifted by strong safety ratings, quality healthcare, and air quality researchers partly credited to the city's cycling culture. Melbourne claimed third at 81.79 — the highest-ranked destination outside Europe — while Vienna took fourth, distinguished by its healthcare performance. The full top ten was a largely European affair, with Barcelona fifth, Singapore sixth, Auckland seventh, Tokyo eighth, Copenhagen ninth, and Seoul tenth.
Dubai, frequently marketed to expats on the strength of tax advantages and modern infrastructure, landed 19th with a score of 71.8 — a quiet reminder that prestige and liveability are not interchangeable. The ranking reflects something broader about how people now think about moving: not as a permanent leap of faith, but as a strategic decision in which the ability to breathe clean air, access a doctor, and actually belong somewhere matters as much as the cost of rent. The inclusion of passport mobility as a core metric signals one more thing — that in an uncertain world, people want to know they can leave if they need to.
More than 300 million people now live outside the country where they were born. That number has nearly doubled since 1990, and the momentum shows no sign of slowing. In 2024 alone, the global count of international migrants hit 304 million—a staggering figure that raises an obvious question: where are all these people actually going? And perhaps more usefully: where should they be going?
Global Citizen Solutions, a firm that advises on residency and citizenship matters, set out to answer that question with methodical rigor. The company released its first-ever ranking of the world's most liveable cities for expats, testing 35 destinations across six continents against a set of measurable criteria. The exercise was not academic. As Liana Simonyan, a researcher at the firm's Global Intelligence Unit, explained, the real challenge in relocation is that affordability, social integration, and structural quality rarely exist together in one place. A ranking that makes these trade-offs explicit and quantifiable becomes genuinely useful for people making high-stakes decisions about where to uproot their lives.
The methodology was straightforward but comprehensive. Each city was scored across seven dimensions: cost of living, safety, air quality, healthcare quality, ease of settling in, English proficiency, and what the researchers called enhanced mobility—essentially, how much freedom your passport gives you to move onward if needed. Scores ranged from zero to 100, drawn from publicly available datasets. When the numbers were tallied, Lisbon emerged at the top with a score of 88.49.
What made Lisbon's victory notable was not dominance in any single category but rather consistency across the board. The Portuguese capital ranked among the least expensive major cities in the index. Its air quality was among the cleanest. Its safety score exceeded that of Paris, Rome, and Barcelona. It was not the best at everything, but it was genuinely good at almost everything—a rare combination in a major European city. Amsterdam came in second with 81.97, buoyed by high safety ratings, excellent healthcare infrastructure, and clean air that the researchers attributed partly to the city's famous cycling culture. Melbourne claimed third place with 81.79, marking the highest-ranking destination outside Europe. Vienna took fourth with 81.07, distinguished especially by its healthcare performance.
The full top ten told a distinctly European story. Barcelona ranked fifth at 80.7, Singapore sixth at 80.58, Auckland seventh at 80.15, Tokyo eighth at 79.78, Copenhagen ninth at 79.57, and Seoul rounded out the list at 78.89. Dubai, a city often marketed aggressively to expatriates seeking tax advantages and modern infrastructure, landed at 19th place with a score of 71.8—a reminder that prestige and liveability are not the same thing.
The ranking arrives at a moment when international migration is reshaping cities and labor markets worldwide. The data reflects a shift in how people think about relocation: not as a one-time permanent move but as a strategic decision involving multiple factors. Cost matters, but so does whether you can breathe the air, access quality medical care, and actually integrate into the community around you. The inclusion of passport mobility rights as a core metric signals something else too—the recognition that in an uncertain world, people want to know they can leave if circumstances change. Lisbon's ascendancy suggests that what people are actually seeking is not glamour or prestige but a genuine, sustainable quality of life.
Citações Notáveis
Affordability, social integration, and structural quality rarely co-occur within the same city. The index renders these competing priorities explicit and measurable.— Liana Simonyan, Global Citizen Solutions' Global Intelligence Unit
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does Lisbon rank so much higher than other European capitals? Is it just cheaper?
It's not just price. Lisbon scores well on safety, air quality, and healthcare—things you'd expect Amsterdam or Vienna to dominate. The difference is consistency. It's good enough across everything without being the best at anything, which is actually harder to achieve than it sounds.
So the ranking is saying that being well-rounded matters more than being exceptional?
Exactly. If you move to a city that's incredibly affordable but the air quality is poor, or it's safe but isolating, you're trading one problem for another. Lisbon doesn't force those trades.
What about Dubai? It seems like it should rank higher given all the expat infrastructure there.
Dubai scores lower because the index measures actual livability, not marketing appeal. It's expensive, the heat is extreme, and integration can be harder. The ranking doesn't care how many expats are already there—it cares whether the city itself is genuinely liveable.
Does the inclusion of passport mobility rights change how we should read this?
It's a quiet acknowledgment that people don't move forever anymore. They want options. A city that's wonderful but traps you there is less valuable than one that's good and gives you freedom to leave.
Melbourne being the top non-European city—does that surprise you?
Not really. Australia has strong healthcare, safety, and air quality. The cost of living is higher than Lisbon, but it's still reasonable for what you get. It's the same logic as Lisbon, just in a different hemisphere.