These are the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world, according to new study
Confetti is seen thrown in Dam Square, Amsterdam, one of the top ten most LGBT-friendly cities
A new study has revealed the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world, based on a ranking of 77 major world cities.
The Wellbeing Index was created by Fitbit and ranks the cities in order of their liveability based on 15 factors, including gender equality, safety and LGBT+ acceptance.
It judged the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, to be the best place to live for LGBT+ people, giving it a score of 10/10 thanks to “full legal equality as well as strong representation in parliament and the media”.
It’s hardly surprising considering that Iceland was the first country in the world to elect an openly gay head of state, and Icelanders have taken every opportunity to show their support for the LGBT+ community ever since.
The world’s second and third most LGBT-friendly cities are both in the Netherlands – Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Reykjavik in Iceland takes the title of most LGBT-friendly city in the world (Creative Commons)
Both are well known for their diverse LGBT+ scenes, and Rotterdam will soon host the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest after bisexual Dutch singer Duncan Laurence claimed the 2019 trophy with hit song ‘Arcade’.
Next up in the list are three Canadian cities – Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver, which are the fourth, fifth and sixth most LGBT-friendly locations.
The capital of Norway, Oslo, claims the seventh position, with Ireland’s capital Dublin ranking eighth.
And two Belgian cities, Brussels and Ghent, are the ninth and tenth most LGBT-friendly respectively.
Ghent cathedral in Belgium (Creative Commons)
Surprisingly, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco were further down on the list than you might expect, ranking at 21, 22 and 23.
And London was all the way down at number 33, behind Birmingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Glasgow.
The study also highlighted the worst major cities to be LGBT+. Jakarta in Indonesia takes the unhappy title of least accepting, closely followed by Moscow in Russia.
Notably, the third, fourth and fifth most unfriendly LGBT+ cities were in all in China – Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.
And as you might expect, Bucharest, Warsaw, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul and Budapest are also among the least LGBT-accepting cities to live in.
