The Best Cities In The World For New Parents

5 Asian cities rank highly in a new study by William Russell revealing the top cities for expectant parents

From an analysis of 50 global cities, insurance firm William Russell came out with interesting insights for new or expectant parents. The study scored each city according to seven key factors; namely maternity and paternity leave, pre-school costs, fertility rates, safety index, healthcare index, pollution index and the percentage of children participating in formal early childhood education and care services.

Using statistics from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and Numbeo, the study revealed the best 10 cities for young families with newborns. Read on to learn which cities made the list and their respective pregnancy-friendly scores out of 10.

1. Reykjavik, Iceland

Pregnancy-friendly score: 7.28

At the top of the list is Reykjavik, scoring high on factors of safety, air quality and childhood education and ranking the best city for access to early childhood education and care services. According to the study, Reykjavik boasts a rate of 59.7 per cent of children participating in formal early childhood education.

2. Kyoto, Japan

Pregnancy-friendly score: 7.25

Named the best city for safety at a safety index of 87.67, Kyoto ranks second on the list. The city also ranks strongly in paid paternity leave, offering a total of 52 weeks to new fathers.

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3. Tallinn, Estonia

Pregnancy-friendly score: 7.24

Estonia's capital city Tallinn ranked the highest by way of paid maternity leave, which stands at a total of 166 weeks, the highest of all the cities in the list.

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4. Helsinki, Finland

Pregnancy-friendly score: 7.23

Named the best city for parental leave, Helsinki comes in fourth on the list with combined paid parental leave totaling 170 weeks. The city also has the lowest pollution index compared to the others, at 13.34.

5. Fukuoka, Japan

Pregnancy-friendly score: 7.10

Fukuoka ranked high on the list in terms of how safe it is for a young families. The harbour city's safety index score stands at 82.01. Fukuoka is one of two Japanese cities on the list (alongside Kyoto) to rank among the top five best cities for safety.

6. Oslo, Norway

Pregnancy-friendly score: 7.07

The city of Oslo gained a spot on the list most notably for the length of its paid maternity leave (91 weeks) and a 56.3 per cent rate of children participating in early childhood education and care services.

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7. Copenhagen, Denmark

Pregnancy-friendly score: 6.98

In seventh place stands Copenhagen, with a safety index score of 72.93 and combined paid parental leave at 52 weeks. Interestingly, in a separate study earlier this year, Copenhagen was named among the top cities in the world for eco-friendly outdoor workouts.

8. Chiba, Japan

Pregnancy-friendly score: 6.93

As with Tokyo, Chiba's paid maternity leave stands at 58 weeks while fathers are entitled to paid paternity leave of 52 weeks, sporting a combined parental leave of 110 weeks. Fun fact: Adjacent to Tokyo, Chiba is home to Japan's two famous Disney parks, Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.

9. Tokyo, Japan

Pregnancy-friendly score: 6.76

With a healthcare index score of 80.19, Tokyo was named among the top cities for best quality of healthcare just after Seoul. Tokyo's safety index score stands at 76.71.

10. Seoul, South Korea

Pregnancy-friendly score: 6.71

Seoul ranked among the five cities for the best quality of healthcare and at 52.6 weeks, boasts the longest paid paternity leave compared to other cities. The study also revealed that Seoul had the lowest fertility rate in the entire list, at 0.92.

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Topics

william russell parenting expectant mothers motherhood family family friendly city

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