Poland’s fifth-largest city (and storied birthplace of the nation) is a business and scientific hub, home to multinational corporations such as Roche, Amazon and Unilever and a university pipeline that helps explain the third-lowest unemployment rate in Europe. Enhancing its global connectivity, Poznań-Ławica offers direct flights to Dubai three times a week through flydubai. It has also recently upgraded its retail with a 900-square-metre Multistore and is planning a check-in hall expansion by 2029. The city is also a hub for events and exhibitions, with the Poznań Congress Center having more than 4,000 conference seats across 38 fully-equipped rooms – and an expansion set to add two new concert halls with more than 1,500 seats. Real estate investment is also getting bolder: Skanska’s Nowy Rynek C (29,000 square metres; €74 million) is scheduled for completion in 2027 with net-zero operations, while the refreshed Wolne Tory concept would turn about 118 hectares of former railway land between Łazarz and Wilda into a new mixed-use district. Poland’s third-largest town square, the Old Market Square from 1253, reopened in late 2023, and in 2027, the new Museum of the Greater Poland Uprising is expected to add another draw. Poznań also ranks #14 in our Health subcategory, demonstrating that it takes caring for its residents as seriously as it does economic development.