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 136 countries. The index is composed of seven sections that play a role in residing in each respective country.

The table is led by Australia. At the bottom of the list, we see that Sudan probably has the toughest living conditions.

Thanks to its good civil rights and general popularity, the USA ranks 21st 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 36 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	Stability (15%)	Rights (20%)	Health (15%)	Safety (10%)	Climate (15%)	Costs (15%)	Popularity (10%)	TotalQuality of life (100%)
1	Australia	87	95	87	100	90	24	42	76
2	San Marino	81	82	100	90	62	62	46	76
3	Hong Kong *	80	82	100	98	49	62	52	75
4	Switzerland	91	99	93	99	35	44	40	73
5	Macao *	90	69	100	95	48	61	50	73
6	Bermuda *	90	78	96	95	68	34	35	72
7	Malta	87	69	91	93	75	41	44	72
8	Spain	67	73	87	95	74	43	68	72
9	Singapore	84	89	79	100	45	55	42	71
10	Luxembourg	94	97	85	100	25	46	42	71
11	Japan	87	88	92	98	54	27	41	71
12	Portugal	80	76	82	95	71	44	38	70
13	South Korea	84	77	92	96	56	42	41	70
14	Germany	84	95	96	97	22	45	42	70
15	France	74	85	92	96	41	30	71	69
16	Austria	85	90	97	99	27	38	43	69
17	Norway	88	99	90	99	17	41	37	69
18	Cyprus	70	67	78	93	75	53	48	69
19	Sweden	89	100	85	99	20	41	37	69
20	Finland	87	100	88	98	17	46	32	69
21	United States	65	83	71	89	66	37	71	68
22	New Zealand	90	100	81	97	36	26	37	68
23	Uruguay	68	82	76	86	78	47	29	68
24	Canada	84	93	78	97	33	37	45	68
25	Netherlands	86	99	84	99	21	40	36	68
26	Denmark	88	100	85	99	17	35	41	68
27	United Arab Emirates	85	64	66	95	62	68	28	67
28	Qatar	85	59	60	95	61	72	38	67
29	Greece	62	63	89	93	70	44	45	66
30	Slovenia	83	72	83	96	40	53	33	66
31	Israel	57	75	84	86	81	36	30	65
32	Croatia	71	59	80	92	50	68	38	65
33	Czechia	81	76	90	96	22	49	40	65
34	Italy	69	66	87	93	57	31	59	65
35	Iceland	83	94	87	98	7	36	33	64
36	Belgium	76	88	89	96	20	32	40	64
37	Estonia	82	90	81	93	17	43	26	63
38	Hungary	72	56	81	93	43	56	48	63
39	Chile	66	77	66	89	47	53	33	63
40	Poland	69	65	79	93	27	58	52	63
41	Ireland	85	93	82	97	2	35	36	62
42	Bulgaria	69	51	81	91	49	62	39	62
43	Bahrain	63	47	65	94	63	73	29	61
44	United Kingdom	77	90	78	97	6	34	44	61
45	Latvia	78	75	77	91	19	55	23	61
46	Lithuania	78	78	83	91	20	43	23	61
47	Saudi Arabia	58	45	63	92	55	75	44	60
48	Slovakia	73	67	78	93	35	42	34	60
49	North Macedonia	57	48	70	90	57	65	36	60
50	Romania	65	57	74	92	37	68	24	59
51	Costa Rica	71	66	62	78	52	46	32	59
52	Maldives	69	40	74	91	63	60	18	59
53	China	69	37	69	93	54	38	73	58
54	Malaysia	71	56	60	92	44	46	44	58
55	Oman	72	45	58	93	43	69	32	58
56	Georgia	46	62	65	90	45	58	36	57
57	Thailand	63	40	71	97	46	55	42	57
58	Samoa	77	63	48	86	46	58	14	57
59	Kuwait	69	45	69	85	31	74	26	57
60	Montenegro	51	52	69	88	53	61	25	57
61	Paraguay	57	34	48	81	78	66	36	56
62	Albania	61	43	61	88	55	57	26	55
63	Argentina	41	42	78	83	73	41	34	55
64	Tunisia	39	46	57	86	76	49	40	55
65	Mongolia	58	42	63	80	44	70	31	55
66	Jordan	52	46	61	88	51	62	28	55
67	Morocco	57	38	48	89	81	45	37	55
68	Sri Lanka	49	42	60	94	57	56	33	54
69	Ecuador	64	38	51	90	60	61	25	54
70	Bosnia and Herzegovina	50	38	66	89	49	70	26	54
71	Serbia	55	43	72	90	51	57	11	54
72	Turkey	34	35	60	92	62	59	50	53
73	South Africa	41	54	32	54	95	49	40	53
74	Rwanda	70	48	21	80	61	58	36	53
75	Peru	55	42	48	89	59	50	34	53
76	Trinidad and Tobago	67	50	62	53	51	49	30	53
77	Kazakhstan	55	35	70	86	40	60	33	53
78	Armenia	33	50	65	95	50	57	23	53
79	Vietnam	70	35	54	81	52	51	34	53
80	Timor-Leste	67	40	38	53	73	67	23	52
81	Moldova	56	43	64	88	40	62	15	52
82	Senegal	63	46	32	88	52	56	35	52
83	India	53	46	36	86	62	45	49	52
84	Algeria	35	24	56	98	76	55	37	52
85	Dominican Republic	54	44	49	76	61	49	30	51
86	Indonesia	63	45	32	99	40	54	39	51
87	Tanzania	53	34	22	68	88	57	46	51
88	Jamaica	56	52	45	52	73	47	18	51
89	Nepal	54	36	37	94	57	56	28	50
90	Pakistan	29	26	29	94	72	62	65	50
91	Bolivia	59	26	30	77	84	51	33	50
92	Mexico	49	33	45	64	82	34	53	50
93	Russia	49	24	74	79	33	62	43	50
94	Egypt	43	27	41	85	66	59	45	50
95	Ukraine	33	36	71	86	37	59	39	50
96	Brazil	37	44	59	67	65	44	32	50
97	Laos	68	20	33	84	48	73	35	49
98	Ghana	47	49	25	96	56	42	38	49
99	Madagascar	45	27	17	89	77	65	33	48
100	Uzbekistan	42	23	55	87	53	61	30	48
101	Philippines	52	38	46	77	49	47	35	48
102	Kenya	41	34	13	80	90	45	43	48
103	Colombia	45	44	57	46	54	46	28	47
104	Gambia	47	36	21	86	57	58	32	46
105	Kyrgyzstan	37	24	57	71	48	70	25	46
106	Bangladesh	46	25	42	81	50	61	33	46
107	Azerbaijan	48	24	59	51	56	64	19	46
108	Cambodia	60	18	28	78	51	66	35	46
109	Uganda	51	28	11	72	71	57	37	45
110	El Salvador	59	35	44	38	66	50	14	45
111	Lebanon	13	21	63	78	71	42	45	45
112	Lesotho	39	38	12	40	89	57	37	45
113	Zambia	38	32	13	71	68	58	47	45
114	Honduras	46	24	37	49	78	57	23	45
115	Belarus	39	24	82	84	21	40	37	44
116	Guatemala	54	26	39	79	49	45	26	44
117	Togo	53	29	11	82	50	54	39	43
118	Ivory Coast	48	36	11	75	53	50	37	43
119	Tajikistan	52	12	47	69	48	51	34	42
120	Ethiopia	26	29	13	48	81	63	43	42
121	Burundi	33	10	8	72	77	66	54	42
122	Sierra Leone	38	33	7	78	43	64	48	42
123	Nicaragua	48	14	40	76	61	41	25	41
124	Iran	22	13	56	83	58	31	41	40
125	Myanmar	23	11	31	73	50	73	33	39
126	Congo	35	13	28	87	45	54	35	39
127	Zimbabwe	33	13	10	65	92	38	36	39
128	Angola	29	27	11	66	63	52	31	38
129	Mozambique	32	24	9	26	81	53	35	37
130	Afghanistan	28	9	15	36	64	63	63	37
131	Cameroon	43	18	12	43	60	50	34	36
132	Iraq	19	13	39	44	37	75	33	36
133	Nigeria	21	23	12	41	53	57	39	34
134	Chad	46	10	0	48	50	49	44	33
135	Congo (Dem. Republic)	35	8	2	29	54	60	36	31
136	Sudan	7	11	17	64	40	66	24	31

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 0% 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 life is in danger. The most important role in this area is played by the homicide rate of a country. In addition, data on displaced persons, violent crimes and wars were included.

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 25 °C at 55 percent humidity as the optimum environment. So, the average temperature is a little lower. From a climatic point of view, this is not quite the dream of a Caribbean island, but from a medical point of view, Central Europeans feel particularly at home at this temperature. 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 2022). 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 36 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:

Bermuda: self-governing territory of the UK
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?

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