Topping the list of good-natured qualities that distinguish the most pleasant cities–whether or not a national capital–were openness, amiability and camaraderie. These were some of the upbeat features examined by an innovative sociability study from Hostelworld, a global hostel booking site.
Hostelworld’s ground-breaking comparison puts a human face on city dwellers’ social attitudes by benchmarking how well residents of 39 major cities from 28 countries treat other people.
Top 10 Friendliest Capital Cities Ranked
Highlighted below are the ten capital cities performing best overall on the global sociability comparison. Shown within brackets is the relative ranking for each capital after all 39 major cities were included.
- Stockholm, Sweden (2nd place overall)
- Copenhagen, Denmark (6th place)
- Madrid, Spain (7th place)
- Rome, Italy (8th place)
- Dublin, Ireland (10th place)
- Paris, France (13th place)
- Warsaw, Poland (15th place)
- Helsinki, Finland (16th place)
- Berlin, Germany (19th place)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (20th place)
Nine of the most-friendly capital cities are located in mainland Europe, all of which were considered more sociable than the sole Asian capital on the top 10 list Kuala Lumpur.
Honorable mention goes to the United Kingdom’s capital city London which earned 21st position. Tokyo finished 23rd followed by Bangkok, Thailand and Moscow, Russia in 24th and 25th place respectively.
Representing North American capitals, Mexico City was the 29th most gregarious metropolis based on the 39-city analysis.
Drilling Down on Friendliness Components
The sociability study also focused on specific factors that drive a city’s overall affability score. Among these components, capital cities had at least one top-three finisher for social activities, social attitudes and values as well as under the fun, generosity, openness and trust category.
For vacationing party enthusiasts, Madrid warrants serious consideration. The study showcased Spain’s capital as the city of choice for residents looking for any excuse to party. Close behind was Russia’s capital city, Moscow.
Indonesian capital Jakarta was the number one municipality for meeting most often with friends since Jakartans enjoy friendly rendezvous an average 151 times annually. In second place was Spain’s capital city Madrid at 134 friend-visits per year.
Berlin, Germany was tops for trust in friends, followed by Prague in nearby Czechia.
Stockholm, Sweden took the gold medal for generosity ahead of Denmark’s capital city Copenhagen.
Cozy Copenhageners came back to score the highest for valuing entertaining at home, ahead of Prague and third-place finisher Warsaw, Poland.
Research Sources:
Hostelworld, Meet the World. Accessed on March 2, 2017
Hostelworld, The World’s Friendliest Cities: A Bucket List For Social Explorers. Accessed on March 2, 2017
Wikipedia, List of adjectives and demonyms for cities. Accessed on March 2, 2017
