London Voted 'Capital Of Europe'

It was seen as “Europe’s capital” by other countries in the region, narrowly beating Zurich, Paris and Berlin, the research found.

People from 11 countries in Europe were asked to rate its big cities from the point of view of the best place to live, to visit and to do business.

Most agreed London was the best place to do business, while Paris and Rome were deemed the best cities to visit.

London also did well globally – coming joint second with Paris overall as the best city in the world.

Almost 19,000 people from 24 countries were asked to choose from a list of 48 major cities using the same criteria.

London was one of only two cities to make the top five in every category - the only other city that did as well was New York.

The study, conducted by researchers Ipsos MORI, concluded that the overall global winner was New York followed by London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Sydney - which came top for British people as the city they most want to live in.

The individual winners of each category were: New York as the best place to do business, Zurich as the best place to live and Paris as the best place to visit.

London’s position in each category was: third for best city to live, fourth for best city to visit and fifth best city to do business.

Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos MORI, said: “The citizens of the world have spoken and given a massive vote of confidence in London and the UK. Among young people around the world we tie with New York as the most popular place to live on the planet.

“Together with positive signs for the UK economy and London generally, and after a brilliant Olympics in 2012, this survey reaffirms London as not only the most important city in Europe, but also affirms Britain continuing to punch above its weight globally.”

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