Quality of life in comparison (Photo: Boracay, private)

Comparison of quality of life worldwide

Emigration is very fashionable, but life abroad is not always pleasant. This table compares the quality of life in 133 countries. The index is composed of seven sections that play a role in residing in each respective country.

The table is led by Hong Kong. At the bottom of the list, we see that the Democratic Republic of the Congo probably has the toughest living conditions.

Thanks to its good civil rights and general popularity, the USA ranks 24th and still quite high up in the table, although the high cost of living and the climate in some areas are negative.

Quality of life in a country comparison

A total of 35 factors were included in the calculation of the overall index, which were divided into seven subject areas here. The best achievable value in each division is 100. See the table below to read which individual criteria are included in each division.

This table applies primarily to residents who also receive their income and pay taxes in the respective country. If you want to ignore these factors (e.g., for pensioners abroad), there is a different version here:

› Table for expats without local income and taxes

#	Country/Region	Stability (15%)	Rights (20%)	Health (15%)	Safety (10%)	Climate (15%)	Costs (15%)	Popularity (10%)	TotalQuality of life (100%)
1	Hong Kong *	87	80	100	100	64	66	55	79
2	Australia	89	94	87	95	88	33	58	79
3	Switzerland	92	99	91	100	45	51	61	78
4	San Marino	93	84	100	100	67	53	39	78
5	Luxembourg	91	98	85	99	35	50	58	75
6	Germany	82	94	94	97	34	54	61	74
7	Japan	89	89	91	100	59	37	49	74
8	Macao *	91	70	100	99	53	53	56	74
9	Sweden	84	99	86	93	33	54	58	73
10	New Zealand	90	100	82	98	46	38	51	73
11	Singapore	82	90	78	100	44	59	57	73
12	Austria	79	89	96	100	40	46	61	73
13	Malta	83	67	92	99	79	42	49	73
14	Portugal	74	76	87	99	73	53	46	73
15	Finland	83	100	85	97	30	54	53	73
16	Spain	62	72	87	92	77	50	76	73
17	Norway	87	99	89	95	29	40	59	72
18	Denmark	83	100	82	99	27	44	62	72
19	France	72	84	90	85	51	38	87	72
20	Canada	84	94	75	98	40	44	64	71
21	South Korea	83	77	90	90	61	49	45	71
22	Cyprus	66	66	88	86	79	60	53	71
23	Netherlands	79	98	83	96	33	47	56	71
24	United States	67	83	73	68	68	41	91	70
25	Czechia	72	77	91	99	36	57	61	70
26	Uruguay	76	82	75	80	78	45	42	70
27	Slovenia	78	72	83	100	43	65	47	69
28	Croatia	72	60	79	96	61	73	47	69
29	Ireland	85	94	84	100	17	45	54	69
30	United Arab Emirates	83	65	67	85	57	73	50	68
31	Iceland	85	91	83	100	22	44	49	68
32	Belgium	73	88	93	95	32	38	53	68
33	Qatar	86	60	72	95	57	67	31	67
34	Italy	64	66	85	92	63	38	68	67
35	Estonia	71	91	80	93	29	49	45	66
36	United Kingdom	74	90	79	91	21	44	60	66
37	Greece	55	61	88	86	73	49	51	66
38	Poland	65	64	81	92	38	66	50	65
39	Lithuania	66	78	84	90	31	53	38	63
40	Israel	55	75	83	47	82	40	48	63
41	Hungary	64	55	81	95	52	62	38	63
42	Chile	64	76	72	84	57	48	34	63
43	Bulgaria	58	51	80	91	56	69	40	63
44	Latvia	64	75	74	91	32	64	36	63
45	Kuwait	74	48	72	92	36	74	52	62
46	Slovakia	65	67	84	93	43	51	28	62
47	Romania	62	57	76	91	44	71	29	61
48	Costa Rica	71	67	63	79	55	47	47	61
49	Saudi Arabia	67	47	66	78	53	75	49	61
50	Malaysia	74	58	62	95	43	55	49	61
51	Bahrain	64	47	64	81	61	70	41	60
52	North Macedonia	51	49	66	90	62	76	33	60
53	China	68	35	72	84	57	46	79	60
54	Montenegro	46	53	69	87	58	69	38	59
55	Botswana	67	65	31	79	82	56	27	59
56	Argentina	46	41	75	84	77	58	42	59
57	Oman	77	46	55	89	46	64	31	57
58	Serbia	53	43	74	85	57	62	33	57
59	Mongolia	57	41	67	84	51	70	36	57
60	Georgia	52	61	63	81	51	62	26	57
61	Albania	59	45	68	88	56	63	23	57
62	Thailand	62	41	71	81	42	62	50	57
63	Kazakhstan	53	36	76	82	49	67	42	56
64	Armenia	47	49	70	82	59	60	27	56
65	Vietnam	72	35	52	84	56	64	41	56
66	Ecuador	66	36	60	69	61	61	35	55
67	Paraguay	58	34	49	78	76	61	36	55
68	Morocco	55	40	48	82	82	49	32	54
69	Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	38	63	86	56	72	31	54
70	Trinidad and Tobago	68	49	64	56	49	47	39	54
71	Jordan	50	46	58	86	57	62	15	53
72	Tunisia	44	42	54	80	76	53	31	53
73	Moldova	43	46	62	84	51	65	22	53
74	Peru	55	40	49	76	69	50	35	52
75	Uzbekistan	52	25	58	82	57	65	40	52
76	Turkey	36	33	65	64	67	65	39	52
77	Dominican Republic	65	45	49	73	50	48	34	52
78	Azerbaijan	46	23	66	81	57	70	28	51
79	Nepal	52	36	40	83	64	59	29	51
80	Indonesia	65	44	32	89	39	57	40	51
81	Namibia	60	57	14	75	65	53	29	51
82	Mexico	54	33	52	43	76	37	67	50
83	Algeria	43	26	59	81	74	47	35	50
84	Tanzania	60	36	21	79	84	52	25	50
85	Jamaica	64	53	38	46	68	44	29	50
86	India	58	46	30	75	61	49	31	50
87	Bolivia	64	24	28	82	83	45	37	49
88	El Salvador	61	32	49	49	73	52	27	49
89	Senegal	59	46	31	88	46	52	29	49
90	Rwanda	45	50	23	80	65	64	17	49
91	Brazil	51	42	57	52	61	38	42	49
92	South Africa	43	50	22	37	92	50	41	49
93	Philippines	58	40	41	74	47	48	40	48
94	Belarus	42	18	79	76	34	67	38	48
95	Kenya	48	35	13	74	86	55	31	48
96	Kyrgyzstan	44	22	58	60	55	68	35	48
97	Russia	51	17	73	55	42	66	42	48
98	Egypt	41	28	38	78	70	58	29	47
99	Sri Lanka	34	38	58	78	58	52	12	47
100	Ghana	46	49	26	88	56	42	28	47
101	Colombia	49	45	55	35	55	50	28	47
102	Zambia	50	37	14	81	70	56	24	46
103	Madagascar	50	26	18	81	75	56	28	46
104	Malawi	42	37	16	76	80	51	24	46
105	Laos	56	18	34	82	47	68	31	46
106	Lesotho	46	39	12	42	89	64	20	46
107	Tajikistan	50	9	52	80	55	58	30	45
108	Bangladesh	48	24	45	82	49	56	23	45
109	Pakistan	24	25	31	64	68	62	51	44
110	Gambia	51	38	23	75	53	53	22	44
111	Uganda	50	28	15	70	72	55	27	44
112	Ivory Coast	59	39	13	72	51	48	33	44
113	Cambodia	64	18	29	76	48	59	26	44
114	Honduras	48	25	39	40	66	52	31	43
115	Guatemala	58	25	37	62	43	50	38	43
116	Togo	51	30	13	72	48	56	27	41
117	Ukraine	16	36	64	38	47	66	12	41
118	Nicaragua	49	12	43	67	56	36	35	40
119	Zimbabwe	30	14	9	71	87	57	22	39
120	Ethiopia	18	28	14	51	80	53	25	38
121	Congo	47	14	21	71	47	49	32	38
122	Iraq	25	13	43	36	42	65	47	37
123	Burundi	34	12	9	70	75	52	20	37
124	Lebanon	14	20	56	49	70	41	9	37
125	Sierra Leone	39	31	8	87	48	35	22	37
126	Cameroon	43	19	11	59	58	47	28	37
127	Iran	24	12	56	64	62	15	35	36
128	Afghanistan	28	7	17	57	65	56	23	34
129	Nigeria	26	22	13	45	50	56	30	34
130	Myanmar	30	8	31	19	49	67	22	32
131	Chad	44	10	2	53	45	40	32	30
132	Sudan	10	8	18	35	42	54	25	26
133	Congo (Dem. Republic)	34	8	2	28	53	32	17	24

You can read here which data can be found in the individual subject areas:

Economic and political stability

Indicators of medium- to long-term stability can be found in this area. In its "Worldwide Governance Indicators" project, the World Bank identifies a whole series of criteria for political consistency. From this, assessments of political stability and government effectiveness are made. Political stability also has the highest priority here.

On the economic side, an inflation rate of 1.5% was considered a theoretical optimum. So the bigger the deviation, the less attractive it is. Additional risk factors were government debt and budget deficits (in relation to gross domestic product), which, with higher values, also carry higher long-term risks. However, a balanced budget, or even a surplus, was seen as a positive signal. The country's unemployment rate was also included, as it indirectly leads to higher social expenditure and long-term unemployment is also a risk to old-age pensions. The ratio of available money supply to currency reserves was also included as a longterm-safety criterion.

Legal system and civil rights

Political stability does not help if it comes from dictatorial principles and if the people have no influence. The laws passed must not only sound good, but must also be implemented and complied with by the government. This subject area therefore primarily includes compliance with the "rule of law" and the regulatory quality of a government. In addition, other factors include democratic participation by the population and, with less weight, measures to combat corruption. To assess not only the measures against corruption, but also how they’re perceived by the population, the corruption index, based on Transparency.org, was also taken into account.

Health services

The most heavily weighted factor in the health sector is average life expectancy, which reflects other factors, such as regular and healthy nutrition. In addition, the drinking water supply, as well as the number of doctors and hospital beds in relation to the number of inhabitants were also taken into account in this sector.

Safety

Even the most beautiful country cannot satisfy anyone if their own life is in danger. The Global Peace Index for 2023 from the Institute for Economics & Peace plays the most important role in this section. We have also included the murder rate, as well as data on displaced persons, violent crime and ongoing wars.

Climate

For most emigrants, a pleasant climate is certainly the most obvious reason to leave home. The assessment of the climate is based on various studies that assume a maximum daily temperature of 26 °C at 60 percent humidity as the optimum environment. So, the average temperature is a little lower. As higher temperatures lead to discomfort more quickly than lower temperatures, hot and humid periods were devalued more strongly under inclusion of the humidex. In terms of climate, this is not quite the dream of a Caribbean island, but from a medical point of view, most people feel particularly comfortable here. There should not be more or less than eight rainy days per month. For each calendar month, the deviations were calculated and added to this theoretical optimum climate. A higher number of hours of daily sunshine also makes the climate more pleasant.

Costs and expenses

Even the best conditions are useless if one can't afford them. The most important factor in this area by far is the national cost of living, as this is the most important factor for living in the respective country. In relation to the costs, the average annual income was also included. Since this is often inversely proportional to the cost of living, in some countries, these two individual factors are relativized. Therefore, the annual income was weakened by a lower weighting. On the expenditure side, however, the taxes to be paid are also important. The maximum corporate and income tax rates were therefore also taken into account. In addition, the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business Index" was included in the table for non-expats with a lower weighting.

Popularity

Subjective evaluations should play a role, as long as they are present in a sufficiently large quantity. The general migration rate and the number of foreign tourists were therefore evaluated as indicators of a country's popularity. The United Nations World Happiness Report is also included here. A lower rating was also used to compare the refugee situation in the respective country. A higher number of foreign refugees results in higher popularity, while a high number of refugees fleeing reduces popularity.

Overall index

To arrive at an overall index for each country, the key figures for the seven sub-sectors were included in an overall index in different proportions:

• Stability: 15%
• Civil rights: 20%
• Health services: 15%
• Safety: 10%
• Climate: 15%
• Costs: 15%
• Popularity: 10%

Continuous updates to this page

The table above is updated continuously and is always based on the most current data available. The data does not have to come from the same year for all countries (as a rule, it is the last closed calendar year, currently 2023). If individual values for a country are not yet available, the most recent data from previous years are used. Tourist data from 2020 and 2021 were not used because many countries closed themselves off due to the Covid-19 pandemic and there would be no comparable situation. A total of 35 factors were used to calculate the quality of life. However, not all data are available for all countries. To avoid inaccuracies, no countries have been listed for which less than 23 individual factors exist.

Data pool

Data from the following organizations were used to produce the quality of life indicators: The World Bank Group, CIA Factbook, OECD, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Transparency.org, UNHCR, German Weather Service and independent research.

* Dependent territories

The following countries are not sovereign states, but dependent territories or areas of other states:

Hong Kong: special administrative region of China
Macao: special administrative region of China

Further information on the definition of a country can be found in our article, What is a country?

Cost of living in a global comparisonRanking of international living costs from 110 countries compared to the US

Average life expectancy by countryInternational ranking of life expectancy in 121 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.

IQ: Intelligence quotient by countryA global comparison of intelligence in relation to temperature, income and education expenditures.