Rotterdam 3rd most equal city in Europe; Amsterdam 18th
Rotterdam is the 3rd best city in Europe when it comes to equality, according to a study by online housing startup Spotahome. Amsterdam performed less well, making it to 18th place in the ranking. The Netherlands as a whole is the 7th most equal city in Europe.
Spotahome looked at 36 countries and 33 cities, ranking them on a number of variables, including the proportion of men and women in the labor market, LGBTI friendliness, immigrant acceptance and income inequality. Each city and country got a score out of 10 in each category, and an overall score.
Rotterdam's overall score is 7.30. The city scored very well for wheelchair accessibility (10), income equality (9.83), political rights and civil liberties (9.89), and immigrant acceptance (8.82). Rotterdam also came in a joint fifth place for female presence in Fortune 500 companies with a score of 6.67. The city's lowest scores were on women in politics (0.0) and gender pay gap (5.05).
Amsterdam performed less well and came in 18th place with an overall score of 6.33. The Dutch capital's low spot in the ranking can largely be explained by its particularly low scores for women in politics (0.31) and women in Fortune 500 companies (0.0). Amsterdam scored very well on income equality (9.83) and political rights and civil liberties (9.89).
The Netherlands as a whole cam in 7th place on the European countries ranking, with an overall score of 8.09. The country scored poorly on gender pay gap (5.05) and LGBTI friendliness (7.11). The best scores were for political rights and civil liberties (9.89) and quality of life (9.36).
Helsinki in Finland is the most equal city in Europe, with an overall score of 7.97. Athens in Greece is at the bottom of the list with a score of 4.51. The most equal country is Norway (8.53) and the least is Turkey (1.35).
