Environment
Revealed: Swansea ranks as 7th healthiest city to live in the UK
Being healthy is more than just eating well and exercising regularly, it requires a permanent lifestyle and mindset change. And some cities make that change easier than others.

The life insurance team at Comparethemarket has revealed the best cities in the UK for leading a healthy lifestyle, looking at the quality of green spaces and parks, Google search volume for gym memberships, the number of healthy restaurants, and the amount of outdoor activities available.
Swansea ranks in seventh place thanks to the quality of its green parks and spaces. With a score of 91.67, Wales’s second-largest city has the best parks and green spaces of every city in the top ten and there are 40 outdoor activities to explore.
Two Scottish cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, rank in the top 10 with Edinburgh ranking first thanks to its large amount of healthy restaurants (105) while Glasgow has one of the highest scores for its quality of green spaces and parks (81.6)
London comes in second place, leading the way for healthy eateries with 743 healthy restaurants to choose from, the highest out of every city in the report.
Mancunians are the most eager to hit the gym with residents making the most monthly Google searches for gyms and gym memberships – 21 per 1,000 residents (10,570 in total) compared to all other cities analysed.
Rank | City | Population | Quality of green spaces/parks * | Monthly Google searches for gym memberships – Per 1,000 population | Number of healthy restaurants | Number of outdoor activities |
1 | Edinburgh | 476,626 | 82.2 | 12.0 | 105 | 60 |
2 | London | 8,799,800 | 80.3 | 13.1 | 743 | 82 |
3 | Cambridge | 123,867 | 90.5 | 20.1 | 21 | 6 |
4 | Brighton & Hove | 273,369 | 85.2 | 7.3 | 67 | 15 |
=5 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 280,177 | 79.0 | 16.7 | 43 | 5 |
=5 | Bristol | 428,234 | 73.4 | 20.0 | 58 | 5 |
6 | Norwich | 132,512 | 64.1 | 15.3 | 12 | 46 |
7 | Swansea | 239,023 | 91.7 | 5.0 | 26 | 40 |
8 | Liverpool | 466,415 | 79.8 | 15.1 | 58 | 5 |
=9 | Oxford | 151,906 | 88.2 | 11.0 | 19 | 7 |
=9 | Exeter | 127,709 | 81.3 | 7.3 | 15 | 31 |
=10 | Sheffield | 552,698 | 86.8 | 8.5 | 33 | 37 |
=10 | Glasgow | 593,245 | 81.6 | 11.9 | 50 | 21 |
You can take a look at the full research here.
(Lead image: Swansea Council)
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