New York City comes out tops in youth survey

[April 30, 2015]  LONDON (Reuters) - New York has been ranked as the most popular city for young people aged 15 to 29 years old, scoring particularly high for its offerings of music, film and fashion, a survey released on Thursday said.

London was a close second, scoring well on healthcare and travel, while Berlin was found to have high levels of digital access in the survey of 10,000 young people around the world by Toronto-based YouthfulCities.

The 2015 YouthfulCities Index ranked 55 cities from across the globe using 101 different indicators from a youth perspective, including culture, travel links, employment and sports.

The survey was launched last year but last year's winner, Toronto -- which was praised for high levels of youth employment, digital accessibility and high living standards among other factors -- dropped to sixth place in this year's ranking. New York was ranked third last year.

YouthfulCities says the initiative is the first attempt to quantify which cities are most attractive and suited to young people aged 15-29.

"Half of the world's population is under 30 years old and half now live in cities," Sonja Miokovic, co-founder of YouthfulCities, said in a press statement.

"Youth and cities -- especially the largest ones -- will together shape the future of the planet. That’s why it is essential for cities to appeal to youth and actively find ways to unlock their potential."

The YouthfulCities initiative was founded by the Decode youth consultancy and has backing from UN-Habitat, Ryerson University in Toronto and the global youth network TakingITGlobal.

(Writing by Michael Roddy; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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