AMSTERDAM, 20/04/07 - Amsterdam is the second most criminal town in the Netherlands. Nonetheless, the capital is the most attractive city in the country to live in, according to the Atlas for Municipalities presented yesterday.

In the atlas, the 50 largest municipalities are compared every year on 40 points. Amsterdam comes 49th in the area of safety. Regarding the percentage of privately-owned housing, it is right at the bottom (50th). On the socio-economic area, Amsterdam comes 23rd. The municipality has the second highest percentage of residents on welfare (49th). On poverty (43rd) it also rates badly.

The attractiveness of Amsterdam mainly reflects its extensive cultural offerings, the presence of two universities and its many restaurants. Along with Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Amstelveen and Den Bosch are the top five most attractive towns.

Young towns like Almere, Purmerend and Spijkenisse have dropped down due to a lack of cultural institutions. Haarlemmermeer, Lelystad and Zoetermeer have also slipped down in the index.

The combination of an interesting city centre and extensive cultural and culinary offerings is popular. For this reason, towns like Groningen, Zwolle, Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Leiden are among the big gainers on the list.