See the 10 cleanest cities in the world

If you enjoy clean air and clean streets (who doesn’t?), sometimes big cities can be stress-inducing—all that smog, noise, and people packed into tight spaces is enough to make any neat freak flip out and only three are from outside Europe, but it turns out that not all big cities are dirty.

Lifestyle site bestlideonline.com analysed data for the 200 largest cities in the world to pinpoint the ones that are the absolute squeaky cleanest. The data drew on air pollution levels (including particles of 10 micrometers in diameter or less and 2.5 micrometers or less), according to the World Health Organization, the quality-of-living rank according to global consultancy Mercer (Ed Note: Not every city has a Mercer rank), and the home country’s Environmental Performance Score, according to Yale, Columbia, and the World Economic Forum.

Here are the 10 cleanest cities in the world:

10 – Sapporo, Japan

Population: 1,918,096
Air pollution (PM10): 19
Air pollution (PM2.5): 10
Environmental Performance Score: 74.69
Clean City Score: 68.89

9 -Vienna, Austria

Population: 1,863,881
Air pollution (PM10): 26
Air pollution (PM2.5): 18
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 1
Environmental Performance Score: 78.97
Monocle Quality of Life Rank: 2
Clean City Score: 70.17

8 – Berlin, Germany

Population: 3,517,424
Air pollution (PM10): 24
Air pollution (PM2.5): 16
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 13
Environmental Performance Score: 78.37
Monocle Quality of Life Rank: 3
Clean City Score: 70.28

7 – Barcelona, Spain

Population: 1,604,555
Air pollution (PM10): 24
Air pollution (PM2.5): 15
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 42
Environmental Performance Score: 78.39
Monocle Quality of Life Rank: 17
Clean City Score: 70.46

6 – Hamburg, Germany

Population: 1,787,408
Air pollution (PM10): 21
Air pollution (PM2.5): 14
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 19
Environmental Performance Score: 78.37
Monocle Quality of Life Rank: 9
Clean City Score: 71.32

5 – Auckland, New Zealand

Population: 1,495,000
Air pollution (PM10): 14
Air pollution (PM2.5): 6
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 3
Environmental Performance Score: 75.96
Clean City Score: 71.97

4 – Madrid, Spain

Population: 3,207,247
Air pollution (PM10): 19
Air pollution (PM2.5): 10
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 51
Environmental Performance Score: 78.39
Monocle Quality of Life Rank: 10
Clean City Score: 72.66

3 – New York, United States

Population: 8,537,673
Air pollution (PM10): 16
Air pollution (PM2.5): 9
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 44
Environmental Performance Score: 79.89
Clean City Score: 74.89

2 – Paris, France

Population: 2,229,621
Air pollution (PM10): 28
Air pollution (PM2.5): 18
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 38
Environmental Performance Score: 83.95
Clean City Score: 74.90

1 – London, United Kingdom

Population: 8,787,892
Air pollution (PM10): 16
Air pollution (PM2.5): 9
Mercer Quality of Living Rank: 40
Environmental Performance Score: 79.89
Clean City Score: 74.94

source: Protothema