Bilbao, along with Vigo, are the happiest cities in the Spanish State
David de la Iglesia Villar
- The Basque city is the happiest in the Spanish State according to the Happy City Index 2024, and it is number 59 in the world.
The Happy City Index list, which evaluates happiness in cities around the world, drawn up by the Institute for Quality of Life and the London-based Happy City Hub, places Bilbao at number one in the Spanish State in its 2024 ranking, drawing on points with the city of Vigo. In the worldwide classification it is in 59th position of the 250 happiest cities in the world.
The report measures quality of life and the feeling of happiness amongst residents with respect to 24 areas of activity divided into five categories: citizens, governance, environment, economy and mobility. Bilbao, which has shot up ten positions with respect to last year, totalled 1556.1 points distributed as follows: citizens (318.7), governance (353.8), economy (336.9), environment (278.4) and mobility (268.4).
At the state level, behind Bilbao and Vigo are Valencia (106th), Barcelona (139th), Zaragoza (165th) and Madrid (192nd). With respect to the worldwide ranking, Aarhus (Denmark) is the leading happy city, ahead of Zurich (Switzerland) and Berlin (Germany). The rest of the Top 10 is made up by Gothenburg (Sweden), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Helsinki (Finland), Bristol (United Kingdom), Copenhagen (Denmark), Geneva (Switzerland) and Munich (Germany).
