From UV exposure to increasing pollution rates, the environment you live in plays a crucial role in how you maintain radiant skin. The experts at LOOKFANTASTIC looked at which Australian cities are most affected by environmental influences, including pollution, average temperatures and smoking prevalence.
Each city was scored out of 10 for each factor with the worst city scoring 1, and the highest scoring 10, revealing Australia’s top towns for skin health.
The Australian city where skin is least impacted by the environment is Ballarat, situated in the Central Highlands of Victoria, with a score of 8.55 out of 10. Due to its elevation, the city has one of the lowest average temperatures (12.4˚C) in Australia, as well as low annual sunshine hours (2,481). Ballarat also has a very low level of air pollution, at just 2.1µg/m³ of harmful PM2.5 particles.
Located a couple of hours away from Ballarat is Warrnambool in second place. The city scores very similarly to its Victorian neighbour Ballarat, with low levels of air pollution (2.1µg/m³ of harmful PM2.5 particles). However, Warrnambool, known for its sandy beaches, is slightly warmer (14.2˚C).
Tasmania’s capital, Hobart, comes in third place, with a relatively cold climate (11˚C) and the second-lowest annual sunshine hours (2,397).
The study also highlights the top global cities for skin health:
The global city where skin is least impacted by the environment is Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital scored 8.24 out of 10. The United Kingdom also landed the 3rd (Manchester) and 10th (London) positions in the study, as a result of the country’s minimal sunshine hours. Unsurprisingly, it’s another colder city situated in Northern Europe that takes second place – Helsinki in Finland. Helsinki enjoys low levels of pollution (5.2µg/m³), and also has a relatively low average annual temperature of 6.1˚C.
Doha, Qatar ranks at the worst place for your skin, followed by Jakarta, Kuwait City, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, Karachi, Santiago, Beirut, Mumbai, Riyadh and New Delhi. The list of the top 25 cities with the worst environmental stressors and pollutants for your skin are:
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