Do you want a good quality of life? Are you a woman? Come to live in Karlsruhe!

In Oktober 2018 I began with my volunteering project in the city of Karlsruhe. I checked some pictures and facts on Google but that was all for the beginning. But more I got used to living here, more interested I was in some detailed information, for example, what city can offer me on a personal and professional level and what quality of life residents experience in this little part of Germany in case I decide to stay for longer period of time. This time, I did some detailed browsing and discovered very interesting articles by Women's Health Magazine and Statista. Check it out, especially if you're a female!

The study examined the 30 largest German cities and about 1,000 facts were compiled in the categories of sports, health, quality of life, career opportunities and partnership.

In the end, it rated Karlsruhe as one of the most living suitable cities in Germany for women!

Now, we can take a closer look at different categories that study made:

Life quality

In terms of attractiveness and quality of life, Karlsruhe performs well. Numerous places and squares invite to relax and unwind. In addition, a woman can feel safe because of a low crime rate compared to the other cities. It is also offering a bunch of cinemas and shopping opportunities. And a little advice: be aware of uncontrolled shopping, because apparently, women in Karlsruhe are shopaholics. According to spending habits in comparison to other cities in Germany, it falls from 1st to 26th place.

Sports

Karlsruhe on 1st place leaves all 29 other cities behind in category of marathons. Many active runners lace up their sports shoes for popular races such as the Badische Meile or the Baden Marathon. Apparently, every woman here is in a good physical condition.  In addition, the city provides with a wide range of sports (I discovered a high number of dance studios), fitness facilities and swimming pools. For all yoga and meditation enthusiasts, Karlsruhe has the biggest number of yoga studios in all Germany.

Health

As the evaluation of Women's Health revealed, Karlsruhe has an oceanic climate and its winter weather is milder, compared to most other German cities. It is also one of the sunniest cities in Germany. Consequently, sunrays with the contact to skin provide the body with vitamin D, which, among other things, prevents cancer. The good quality of life also seems to increase the expectation of age: In the number of inhabitants over 85 years, Karlsruhe takes fourth place. Only in Hannover (1st place), Braunschweig (2nd place) and Chemnitz (3rd place) is the life expectancy of elderly ladies higher. On the other side, researchers discovered that the city scores poorly in terms of air quality. Measured ozone levels are almost the highest in comparison to other cities in the study and the pollution is unusually strong.

Career

Because of its good geographical position: it lies directly behind the Bavarian cosmopolitan city of Munich and the banking city of Frankfurt am Main, a study evaluated many of businesses registrations and at the same time, less number of unemployment in Karlsruhe. The report of Statista also found out that professionals in the city were most often able to work from home compared to any other city, with 56 percent of companies offering this possibility and about seven out of ten professionals had flexible working hours rules. Beside Karlsruhe, next for places (from 2nd to 5th) are taking: Münster, Stuttgart, Bonn and Munich.

In terms of the number of female executives, Karlsruhe ranks in the 4th place. Females find better and various career opportunities more often than in other German cities. Here you can combine your child and your career well because Karlsruhe is well provided with day-care centers for kids. I'm volunteering in one of the numerous and I found out some of them are operating under sponsorships of big companies and have a certain number of places reserved for children of employees. Precisely, Karlsruhe came in 2nd place for the percentage of employers that offer childcare at 22 percent. Due to the mentioned system, employees are able to get off work early on a Friday or having time to take a child to their sports game. All these aspects of a good work-life balance seem quite important to German professionals.

Partnership

If we compare gender and number of residents, live in Karlsruhe more men than women and that's why the latter have plenty of choices. In addition, there is a big possibility that their future husband has a high school or university diploma because of various technic and science universities in town; so they are probably employable and can provide for the family. Good thing to hear is also that the number of divorces in Karlsruhe is lower than that of the marriage.

In the end, I would like to say that I’m personally satisfied with the life quality in the city of Karlsruhe but I'm aware we should not just ask ourselves what the city can offer to us but also what we can offer to the city. So anywhere we are, we have to make sure we contribute to our volunteering project, be active and respect the place we currently live. That’s how we can make it better!

Sources:

1. https://www.ka-news.de/region/karlsruhe/Karlsruhe~/Lebenswert-In-Karlsruhe-werden-Frauen-gluecklich;art6066,606426

2. https://www.thelocal.de/20170407/these-german-cities-offer-the-best-work-life-balance