The best cities to live and work in to soak up the most vitamin D
Getting the right amount of vitamin D has never been more important, it’s integral to keeping your immune system happy and healthy as well as helping your body to absorb calcium. A deficiency could see you experience symptoms of muscle weakness, pain and tiredness.
But where in the world can you soak up the most vitamin D? Well, we’ve created The Sunshine Index which reveals the best cities where you can spend the most time in the sunshine, based on the amount of sunlight hours, working hours and sleeping hours, as well as the amount of free outdoor spaces where you can enjoy the sun…
The Sunlight Cities Index
Explained in animation form…
Rome revealed as the world’s vitamin D capital
Top ten cities to live and work in for vitamin d
| City | Overall score | Sunlight hours | Sunlight score | No. of free outdoor activities | Spaces scores | Working hours | Working hours score | Sleep hours | Sleep score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rome | 79 | 2473 | 25 | 556 | 20 | 34.15 | 17 | 8.28 | 18 |
| Alice Springs | 74 | 3499 | 35 | 14 | 0 | 31.82 | 19 | 8.56 | 19 |
| Madrid | 73 | 2769 | 28 | 301 | 11 | 34.2 | 16 | 8.53 | 18 |
| Marseille | 73 | 2836 | 29 | 170 | 6 | 31.48 | 20 | 8.49 | 18 |
| London | 72 | 1633 | 17 | 547 | 19 | 33.48 | 18 | 8.06 | 17 |
| Las Vegas | 64 | 3825 | 39 | 47 | 2 | 39.48 | 5 | 8.75 | 19 |
| Calama | 64 | 3926 | 40 | 6 | 0 | 37.76 | 9 | 6.91 | 15 |
| Tel Aviv | 63 | 3311 | 33 | 59 | 2 | 36 | 13 | 6.91 | 15 |
| Moscow | 63 | 1901 | 19 | 564 | 20 | 39 | 8 | 7.11 | 15 |
| Vienna | 63 | 1884 | 19 | 166 | 6 | 31.82 | 19 | 8.48 | 18 |
With a glorious 2473 hours of sunshine every year, Rome takes the top spot on our Sunlight Cities Index, making it the best city to live and work in to get your daily dose of vitamin D. The city boasts 556 free outdoor attractions, and although some cities around the world have more sun, Roman’s spend an average of just 14 hours of their day sleeping and working, meaning there’s plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors.
Alice Springs in Australia comes in second with 3499 of annual sunlight hours, combined with a shorter working week of 31.82 hours and just under 9 hours sleep meaning that working and living there would increase your natural vitamin D intake and give you a great work-life balance. If relocating to Madrid in Spain is an option then you could enjoy some of the amazing 301 free outdoor attractions in their 2769 hours of annual sunshine. Perfect for a dose of the sunshine vitamin.
Get some space in Moscow
Top ten cities for free outdoor attractions
| City | No. of free outdoor attractions | Spaces score |
|---|---|---|
| Moscow | 564 | 20 |
| Rome | 556 | 20 |
| London | 547 | 19 |
| Tokyo | 376 | 13 |
| Madrid | 301 | 11 |
| Buenos Aires | 283 | 10 |
| Copenhagen | 259 | 9 |
| Singapore | 204 | 7 |
| Berlin | 196 | 7 |
| Marseille | 170 | 6 |
We’re spending more and more time indoors meaning vitamin D deficiency is more prominent than ever. When it comes to cities across the world with free outdoor spaces for you to venture into, Moscow hits the top spot with 564 attractions, followed by sunlight city favourite Rome with 556. Meaning you have more chances to get outside, see the sun and get some fresh air.
Amsterdam is the place to work
Top ten cities for working hours
| City | Working hours | Working hours score |
|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | 30.41 | 20 |
| Marseille | 31.48 | 20 |
| Alice Springs | 31.82 | 19 |
| Vienna | 31.82 | 19 |
| Auckland | 33 | 19 |
| London | 33.48 | 18 |
| Brussels | 33.8 | 18 |
| Copenhagen | 34 | 17 |
| Oslo | 34 | 17 |
| Rome | 34.15 | 17 |
When it comes to the working week Amsterdam takes the top spot with an average of 30.41 hours, leaving you more time to get outdoors and top that immune system up. Europe continues to lead the way with the working week, with Marseille in France coming in second place with 31.48 working hours a week.
Sleep easy in South Africa
Top Ten Cities For Sleep
| City | Sleep hours | Sleep score |
|---|---|---|
| Upington | 9.24 | 20 |
| Lhasa | 9.03 | 20 |
| Tallinn | 8.83 | 19 |
| Auckland | 8.76 | 19 |
| Las Vegas | 8.75 | 19 |
| Stockholm | 8.72 | 19 |
| Luxembourg City | 8.63 | 19 |
| Alice Springs | 8.56 | 19 |
| Madrid | 8.53 | 18 |
| Riga | 8.53 | 18 |
When it comes to a bit of shut-eye, Upington in South Africa is the city for sleep. Getting an average of 9.24 hours a night means that you’ll see less of the sun but you will be well and truly rested. If you need more sleep than the average person then don’t forget to top up your vitamin D with our supplements.
Sunlight isn’t the be-all and end-all for getting your vitamin D intake. Through our varied range of vitamins and supplements you can make sure your bones and immune system are getting the support they need, or even look to improve your diet with vitamin D rich food and drink.
Methodology
We collected data across a range of metrics for 210 cities around the world. Each of these metrics were then awarded a weighted score and these were combined to give each city a total score out of 100. The metrics analysed were:
- The average number of sunlight hours each city gets per year
- The average number of hours spent working in each city, to determine how much leisure time people have.
- The number of free outdoor attractions in each city, to determine how easily people can get outdoors regardless of whether or not they have a garden.
- The average number of sleep hours in each city, to correlate sunlight exposure to better quality of sleep
Where data was not available for every metric the city was omitted.
Sunlight hours were sourced fromSleepopolis, number of free outdoor attractions were sourced fromTripadvisor, working hours were sourced from the International Labour Organization, sleep hours were sourced from Statista Where data was not available from Statista, World Economic Forum was used as a secondary source.