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THREE cities in Spain have made it into the latest list of the best for home-workers after the 80 most popular choices were revealed.

WorkMotion, a platform focusing on helping the global public find overseas employment, researched factors ranging from cost of living – including housing – level of taxes, general 'happiness' ratings of inhabitants, and the ease or otherwise of obtaining a work-from-home visa for those who, in the case of non-European Union citizens, or EU nationals moving outside the bloc, might need one.

Criteria were based upon objective analyses of each city's factors, rather than surveying workers to find out where they would prefer to live – a study that may well have produced different results.

In the top 10, only four were in Europe – the Czech capital of Prague at number five, the Estonian capital of Tallinn at number seven, Zagreb in Croatia at eight and Dublin, Republic of Ireland, at number 10.

Clearly, if mild winters and hot summers were among the requisites, Zagreb would be the only European city in the top 10 to make the cut, meaning locations in Spain may have found their way into this list.

But two Spanish metropolitan areas made the top 20, out of three which got into the best 25.

Melbourne, in the far south-east of Australia, which advertises its title of 'world's most liveable city', tops the list, and two hours north by air along the coast, Sydney comes third.

Second is Montréal, the capital of the French-speaking Canadian province of Québéc, and Wellington, New Zealand, is fourth.

Another Canadian city slots in sixth, Toronto, with Singapore ninth.

How Spanish cities compare with the other 77 'best'

Madrid comes in at 15 out of the 80, after Berlin, Germany; Glasgow, UK; Tokyo, Japan and Lisbon, Portugal, in that order, then Barcelona sits at number 17, separated from Madrid by Vancouver, Canada, at 16.

Spain's two largest cities beat Helsinki (Finland), Aberdeen (UK), and Hamburg (Germany), which complete the top 20.

Gran Canaria's largest city, Las Palmas – one of the Canary Islands' two provincial capitals along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife – is at 21, beating Warsaw (Poland), Vienna (Austria), Nantes (France), and Edinburgh (UK) to round off the top 25.

Melbourne is the only city scoring the full 100, and the top five all achieve upwards of 95.

With the bottom entry, Dubai (United Arab Emirates) earning 50 and, in descending order, Medellín (Colombia), Bangalore (India), Méjico DF (México) and Honolulu (Hawaii, USA) gaining below 60, all the top 25 scored at least 80 out of 100.

Madrid earned 83.22, Barcelona 82.12 and Las Palmas 81.06.

All three scored 72.4 for 'legal requirements', above Prague and Tallinn, and 75.6 for 'ease of compliance', beating Zagreb, Prague, Glasgow and Lisbon.

Las Palmas gained 87.62 for 'city affordability', whilst Madrid gained 78.92 and Barcelona 78.73.

All three got 79.7 for 'political stability' and 88.51 (Madrid), 88.41 (Barcelona) and 88.31 (Las Palmas) for 'safety and security'.

Distinctions in equality, healthcare, education, cultural attractions

For 'minority equality', the three Spanish cities earned 97.84 out of 100, and for LGB (lesbian, bisexual and gay) as well as transsexual equality, shot up several places in the ranking: Barcelona comes in sixth out of 80, at 99.34; Madrid is seventh at 99.31, both beating London (eighth, with 99.27), and Las Palmas 11th, at 98.94.

'Gender equality' is high-scoring across all the developed nations, with the three Spanish locations earning 98.99.

For 'quality in education', Oslo tops the list at 100 and Helsinki second with 99.4, whilst Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Las Palmas, Melbourne and Sydney are very close: The UK cities score 84.77, those in Spain got 83.69, and the two Australian locations 83.61.

Spain also ranked highly for 'access to healthcare', with Madrid gaining 96, Barcelona 95.83 and Las Palmas 95.11.