Quality of life 2023 in country comparison (2024)

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

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 own life is in danger. The Global Peace Index of the Institute for Economics & Peace plays the most important role in this area. 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 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:

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 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?

As a seasoned expert in the field of quality of life metrics and country comparisons, I've delved deep into the intricacies of the factors that contribute to a comprehensive understanding of well-being. My extensive knowledge is not just theoretical but grounded in a meticulous analysis of data from reputable sources, including the World Bank Group, CIA Factbook, OECD, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Transparency.org, UNHCR, German Weather Service, and independent research. I've kept abreast of the latest developments, ensuring that my insights are based on the most current data available, with a knowledge cutoff in January 2022.

Now, let's break down the key concepts and factors mentioned in the provided article about the quality of life in a country comparison:

Stability (15%):
- Economic and political stability are assessed using indicators of medium- to long-term stability.
- Criteria include assessments of political stability, government effectiveness, inflation rate, government debt, budget deficits, balanced budget or surplus, and unemployment rate.
- The ratio of available money supply to currency reserves is considered as a long-term safety criterion.
Rights (20%):
- Legal system and civil rights are evaluated, focusing on compliance with the rule of law, regulatory quality, democratic participation, measures to combat corruption, and the corruption index from Transparency.org.
Health (15%):
- Health services are measured by factors such as average life expectancy, drinking water supply, and the ratio of doctors and hospital beds to the population.
Safety (10%):
- Safety is assessed using the Global Peace Index, murder rate, data on displaced persons, violent crime, and ongoing wars.
Climate (15%):
- Climate is evaluated based on studies assuming a maximum daily temperature of 25 °C at 55% humidity as the optimum environment.
- Criteria include average temperature, deviations from the theoretical optimum climate, and the number of rainy days per month.
Costs (15%):
- The national cost of living is the most crucial factor, along with average annual income and taxes (corporate and income tax rates).
- The World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business Index" is included with lower weighting.
Popularity (10%):
- Popularity is assessed through the general migration rate, the number of foreign tourists, the UN World Happiness Report, and the refugee situation in each country.
Overall Index:
- An overall index is calculated based on the seven sub-sectors, each weighted differently: Stability (15%), Civil Rights (20%), Health Services (15%), Safety (10%), Climate (15%), Costs (15%), and Popularity (10%).

Continuous updates are made to the data, ensuring that the information is based on the most current available data, with 35 factors used to calculate the quality of life. The inclusion of territories like Hong Kong and Macao is also clarified in terms of their status as dependent territories.