The quality of town life is improving

“Europeans like to live in town, and they think towns will improve as places to live and work in”. These are some of the results of a survey by Eurobarometer on the quality of life in European towns. Over three quarters of them said to be satisfied with living in their respective towns. On the whole, even though citizens are happy with the quality of services such as education, health and culture, they are worried about availability of jobs, dwelling costs, and pollution. “This survey – stated Commissioner Danuta Hübner, in charge of regional policy – shows a positive attitude with respect to life in town, but it also points out a few critical points”. 75 towns were involved in the survey: the interviewed answered 23 questions during 500 telephone interviews, saying to what extent they either agreed or disagreed with statements such as “I am happy with the quality of life in my town”. In Piatra Neamt (RO), Tallinn (EE), Vilnius (LT), Cluj-Napoca (RO), and Burgas (BG), over 80% of the interviewed said to be satisfied. As for public transport, the best cities were Helsinki, Vienna, Rennes, Hamburg and Munich. As for working opportunities, the best ones were Prague, Copenhagen and Dublin, while those where finding a job was more difficult were Palermo, Naples, and Frankfurt (Oder).