Cardiff named UK's most skin-friendly city
Cardiff has been named the UK’s most skin-friendly city, with high scores in factors related to sun exposure, especially in terms of the number of days of sunlight per year and average yearly UV radiation.
The study by Covalo analysed 80 cities across the world to discover the best places to live in for skin health, based on sun, air and stress, considering factors such as average temperature, days of sunlight, air pollution and working hours per week.
Cardiff came out top for the UK and in 12th place overall in the list with an average temperature of 12C and 66 days of sunlight, along with other factors, which gave it a total score of 7.77/10.
Meanwhile, London ranked 25th in the study due to low scores in stress-related factors due to high levels of traffic consumption, while skin of Londoners also suffers because of wind speeds and a low percentage of water vapour in the atmosphere, the report found. Belfast, Ireland, came in 29th on the list and Edinburgh, Scotland, 37th
Phoenix, in the US, was named the most skin-friendly city in the world, with average temperatures of 22°C (the ideal temperature for skin health) and 124 days of sunlight each year; while Oslo, Norway, came in second place, with an overall score of 9.41, due to presenting the lowest registered UV index (2.3), as did fellow Nordic cities, Reykjavik, Helsinki, and Stockholm.
Top 10 cities across the globe for skin-health:
| City | Average Temp (°C) | Days of Sunlight | UV Radiation | Air Pollution | Wind Speed (km/h) | Humidity Score (% of water vapour in atmosphere) | Working hours (p/week p/person) | Overall |
| 1. Phoenix | 22 | 124 | 6.9 | 27 | 10.6 | 36 | 33.7 | 10 |
| 2. Oslo | 6 | 140 | 2.3 | 27 | 7.24 | 74 | 27.18 | 9.41 |
| 3. Montreal | 6 | 84 | 4 | 23 | 5 | 63 | 32.53 | 9.04 |
| 4. Munich | 8 | 64 | 3.8 | 32 | 10.5 | 67 | 25.96 | 9 |
| 5. Vancouver | 10 | 80 | 3.5 | 16 | 7.6 | 70 | 32.53 | 8.41 |
| 6. Sydney | 18 | 118 | 7.1 | 25 | 12.5 | 57 | 33.21 | 8.1 |
| 7. Stockholm | 7 | 165 | 2.3 | 25 | 11.27 | 75 | 30.86 | 7.92 |
| 8. Madrid | 15 | 228 | 5.3 | 29 | 12.71 | 61 | 32.34 | 7.92 |
| 9. Ljubljana | 11 | 170 | 4.3 | 49 | 6.6 | 75 | 31.74 | 7.91 |
| 10. Berlin | 9 | 138 | 3.1 | 39 | 16.9 | 69 | 25.96 | 7.77 |
Don’t miss: Edinburgh tops list of cities where skin is least impacted by the environment
Also: Nottingham and London named best UK cities for beauty lovers
Where did your city rank in the findings? Let us know in the comments.