Standard of Living by Country 2026
Netherlands
Sri Lanka
60
80
100
120
140
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180
200
220
Countries Ranked by Quality of Life Index
Country | Quality of Life Numbeo 2026↓ | Quality of Life Score (CEO World) 2026 | Quality of Life Rank (US News) 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Netherlands | 213.60 | 96.63 | 12th |
 | Denmark | 212.20 | 97.70 | 4th |
 | Luxembourg | 211.90 | 95.46 | 15th |
 | Oman | 207.60 | 84.26 | 65th |
 | Switzerland | 206.20 | 97.78 | 6th |
 | Finland | 204.40 | 96.53 | 1st |
 | Austria | 199.80 | 95.05 | 14th |
 | Germany | 196.30 | 96.42 | 11th |
 | Iceland | 195.80 | 97.43 | 2nd |
 | Norway | 195.40 | 97.56 | 3rd |
 | Estonia | 190.70 | 94.30 | 17th |
 | Australia | 189.60 | 93.73 | 18th |
 | Sweden | 189.30 | 97.37 | 5th |
 | New Zealand | 188.50 | 95.60 | 10th |
 | United States | 186.00 | 91.59 | 30th |
 | Spain | 185.80 | 94.85 | 29th |
 | Japan | 185.60 | 95.04 | 8th |
 | Qatar | 182.70 | 87.46 | 60th |
 | Slovenia | 181.50 | 93.88 | 24th |
 | Lithuania | 178.20 | 91.40 | 23rd |
 | Croatia | 176.60 | 90.41 | 33rd |
 | United Kingdom | 175.90 | 93.04 | 21st |
 | United Arab Emirates | 175.50 | 92.59 | 41st |
 | Czechia | 175.30 | 93.70 | 16th |
 | Belgium | 175.20 | 95.99 | 9th |
 | Canada | 172.00 | 90.67 | 13th |
 | France | 169.80 | 94.77 | 20th |
 | Portugal | 169.50 | 90.39 | 39th |
 | Israel | 167.70 | 88.43 | 28th |
 | Ireland | 167.70 | 97.52 | 22nd |
 | Latvia | 167.30 | 91.01 | 26th |
 | Saudi Arabia | 165.30 | 86.00 | 73rd |
 | Kuwait | 162.70 | 85.65 | 59th |
 | Cyprus | 159.60 | 92.31 | 38th |
 | Slovakia | 158.60 | 89.86 | 27th |
 | Singapore | 158.10 | 97.88 | 7th |
 | Poland | 156.10 | 86.82 | 25th |
 | Taiwan | 155.50 | 92.89 | |
 | Puerto Rico | 153.10 | ||
 | Italy | 152.90 | 94.41 | 31st |
 | South Africa | 150.90 | 70.50 | 81st |
 | South Korea | 150.40 | 93.44 | 19th |
 | Bulgaria | 148.30 | 85.86 | 43rd |
 | Hungary | 147.60 | 89.61 | 32nd |
 | Romania | 143.00 | 86.92 | 35th |
 | Turkey | 142.10 | 88.31 | 76th |
 | Greece | 140.80 | 90.09 | 40th |
 | Uruguay | 139.10 | 85.70 | 44th |
 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 136.50 | 84.10 | 56th |
 | Belarus | 135.70 | 84.70 | 46th |
 | Malta | 135.30 | 92.27 | 34th |
 | Malaysia | 135.20 | 69.79 | 37th |
 | China | 134.80 | 83.52 | 53rd |
 | Ecuador | 128.70 | 82.23 | 82nd |
 | Hong Kong | 128.70 | 96.35 | |
 | Serbia | 127.60 | 85.93 | 52nd |
 | Costa Rica | 127.30 | 80.36 | 45th |
 | Georgia | 126.60 | 86.10 | 55th |
 | Jordan | 125.60 | 78.65 | 71st |
 | Mexico | 125.30 | 82.89 | 62nd |
 | North Macedonia | 124.20 | 85.19 | |
 | Argentina | 123.40 | 85.18 | 48th |
 | India | 122.30 | 71.72 | 90th |
 | Armenia | 121.90 | 82.94 | 61st |
 | Panama | 120.40 | 87.21 | 57th |
 | Brazil | 117.80 | 81.90 | 69th |
 | Tunisia | 117.60 | 75.80 | 75th |
 | Ukraine | 117.10 | 76.56 | 49th |
 | Russia | 115.60 | 80.10 | 58th |
 | Morocco | 114.10 | 72.69 | 84th |
 | Azerbaijan | 111.10 | 81.56 | |
 | Chile | 109.80 | 86.05 | 51st |
 | Kazakhstan | 107.50 | 85.06 | 47th |
 | Thailand | 106.80 | 85.13 | 42nd |
 | Colombia | 105.90 | 81.25 | 70th |
 | Albania | 105.60 | 83.58 | 50th |
 | Kenya | 99.40 | 68.68 | 95th |
 | Pakistan | 98.30 | 59.48 | 96th |
 | Lebanon | 98.20 | 76.79 | 83rd |
 | Vietnam | 92.50 | 77.69 | 64th |
 | Peru | 92.30 | 82.18 | 79th |
 | Indonesia | 91.10 | 70.15 | 72nd |
 | Iran | 88.00 | 58.97 | 87th |
 | Philippines | 87.10 | 74.71 | 74th |
 | Egypt | 81.90 | 75.05 | 85th |
 | Venezuela | 75.20 | 73.33 | |
 | Bangladesh | 73.30 | 63.41 | 91st |
 | Sri Lanka | 61.00 | 67.75 | 68th |
 | Nigeria | 66.00 | 97th | |
 | Ethiopia | 63.07 | 98th | |
 | DR Congo | 62.36 | ||
 | Tanzania | 65.04 | ||
 | Myanmar | 62.02 | 94th | |
 | Sudan | 63.48 | ||
 | Uganda | 66.27 | ||
 | Algeria | 80.60 | 80th | |
 | Iraq | 70.58 | 86th | |
 | Afghanistan | 61.96 | ||
 | Yemen | 61.63 | ||
 | Angola | 68.32 | 100th | |
 | Uzbekistan | 78.57 | 54th | |
 | Mozambique | 61.82 | ||
 | Ghana | 68.79 | 92nd | |
 | Madagascar | 62.91 | ||
 | Ivory Coast | 65.11 | ||
 | Cameroon | 67.93 | ||
 | Nepal | 62.96 | ||
 | Niger | 61.05 | ||
 | North Korea | 60.85 | ||
 | Syria | 66.72 | ||
 | Mali | 61.41 | ||
 | Burkina Faso | 61.68 | ||
 | Malawi | 63.40 | ||
 | Zambia | 67.74 | ||
 | Chad | 60.33 | ||
 | Somalia | 59.18 | ||
 | Senegal | 64.64 | ||
 | Guatemala | 69.86 | 88th | |
 | Cambodia | 68.54 | 93rd | |
 | Zimbabwe | 66.15 | 99th | |
 | Guinea | 62.21 | ||
 | Benin | 63.33 | ||
 | Rwanda | 65.99 | ||
 | Burundi | 61.55 | ||
 | Bolivia | 72.12 | ||
 | South Sudan | 59.80 | ||
 | Haiti | 66.52 | ||
 | Dominican Republic | 83.90 | 67th | |
 | Honduras | 69.38 | ||
 | Tajikistan | 70.76 | ||
 | Papua New Guinea | 67.56 | ||
 | Cuba | 82.57 | ||
 | Togo | 65.88 | ||
 | Sierra Leone | 61.74 | ||
 | Laos | 69.30 | 89th | |
 | Turkmenistan | 79.99 | ||
 | Libya | 81.18 | ||
 | Kyrgyzstan | 74.05 | ||
 | Nicaragua | 70.54 | ||
 | Paraguay | 75.70 | 63rd | |
 | Republic of the Congo | 61.81 | ||
 | El Salvador | 70.65 | 77th | |
 | Liberia | 62.75 | ||
 | Central African Republic | 59.94 | ||
 | Palestine | 60.83 | ||
 | Mauritania | 65.25 | ||
 | Eritrea | 63.23 | ||
 | Mongolia | 79.76 | 78th | |
 | Namibia | 68.92 | ||
 | Moldova | 82.42 | ||
 | Gambia | 63.24 | ||
 | Jamaica | 74.26 | ||
 | Gabon | 71.65 | ||
 | Botswana | 74.63 | ||
 | Lesotho | 64.94 | ||
 | Guinea-Bissau | 62.38 | ||
 | Equatorial Guinea | 69.78 | ||
 | Bahrain | 86.66 | 66th | |
 | Trinidad and Tobago | 87.14 | ||
 | Timor-Leste | 67.55 | ||
 | Eswatini | 68.82 | ||
 | Mauritius | 83.67 | ||
 | Djibouti | 63.43 | ||
 | Fiji | 75.15 | ||
 | Comoros | 67.78 | ||
 | Solomon Islands | 66.76 | ||
 | Guyana | 79.88 | ||
 | Bhutan | 76.65 | ||
 | Macau | 94.87 | ||
 | Suriname | 70.87 | ||
 | Montenegro | 86.09 | ||
 | Maldives | 82.16 | ||
 | Cape Verde | 70.29 | ||
 | Brunei | 87.42 | ||
 | Belize | 73.67 | ||
 | Bahamas | 86.40 | ||
 | Vanuatu | 69.17 | ||
 | Barbados | 86.29 | ||
 | Sao Tome and Principe | 69.02 | ||
 | Samoa | 74.09 | ||
 | Saint Lucia | 77.56 | ||
 | Kiribati | 69.53 | ||
 | Seychelles | 84.91 | 36th | |
 | Micronesia | 69.91 | ||
 | Tonga | 78.71 | ||
 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 84.05 | ||
 | Antigua and Barbuda | 89.88 | ||
 | Andorra | 94.04 | ||
 | Dominica | 79.20 | ||
 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 86.87 | ||
 | Liechtenstein | 95.64 | ||
 | Monaco | 95.87 | ||
 | Marshall Islands | 75.59 | ||
 | San Marino | 89.97 | ||
 | Palau | 83.77 | ||
 | Nauru | 72.06 | ||
 | Tuvalu | 70.26 |
- Many measures of Quality of Life exist, each with a unique methodology. Several such measures are compiled here.
- Numbeo’s Quality of Life Index estimates the overall quality of life in a city or country by analyzing a range of indicators, including purchasing power, pollution levels, housing affordability, cost of living, safety, healthcare quality, commute times, and climate conditions. The index is designed to provide a comparative measure, where a higher index value indicates a better quality of life.
- The US News Quality of Life subranking is a composite score that “focuses on lived experience – whether a person feels safe on their streets, free to speak their mind and healthy enough to enjoy it all.” The 2026 QoL rankings incorporated the following datasets: Air Quality, Anxiety, Drinking Water, Freedom of Expression, Generalized Trust, Happiness, Healthy Life Expectancy, Homicide, Income Inequality, Passport Strength (Henley), Sanitation, Universal Health Care, and Years of Schooling. The specific combination of data used may vary from year to year.
- CEO World’s Quality of Life rankings are based on the perceptions of more than 258,000 people worldwide who were asked to evaluate 199 nations based on ten metrics ranging from stability to transparency to equality. The rankings measure global perceptions of nations that contribute most to the world’s GDP.
- The Human Development Index (HDI) assesses a country’s average achievements in health, education, and income, reflecting its level of overall human development and, by extension, its quality of life.
- Higher scores/numbers are preferable in every methodology except the 2019 US News Rankings, in which lower numbers indicate a higher/better ranking.
Key Findings
What Is Standard of Living?
Standard of living refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods, and necessities available to people living in a particular country or region.
While often used interchangeably with quality of life, quality of life is a broader concept that also considers factors such as health, safety, environmental quality, and overall wellbeing.
Countries with Highest Standard of Living
Netherlands has the highest Quality of Life Index score at 213.60. The three countries with the highest quality of life scores are Netherlands (213.60), Denmark (212.20), and Luxembourg (211.90).
Countries with the highest standard of living tend to combine economic prosperity with stable governance, well-developed public services, and high levels of personal security.
Quality of Life Index
The rankings on this page use Numbeo's Quality of Life Index, which combines eight factors: purchasing power, safety, healthcare, cost of living, property price-to-income ratio, traffic commute time, pollution, and climate.
Other systems, including the U.S. News Best Countries Report and the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), may rank countries differently because they use different methodologies, data sources, and weighting systems.
Countries with Lowest Standard of Living
Sri Lanka has the lowest Quality of Life Index score at 61.00. The three countries with the lowest quality of life scores are Venezuela (75.20), Bangladesh (73.30), and Sri Lanka (61.00).
Lower scores are often associated with limited healthcare access, economic instability, environmental challenges, infrastructure deficits, and concerns related to safety and public services.
Quality of Life Comparison
Highest, Lowest, and U.S. Quality of Life Scores
The gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring countries is substantial, revealing major differences in living standards and everyday quality of life around the world. Many of the countries that rank highly here also perform well in other measures such as the Human Development Index, U.S. News quality of life rankings, and global happiness rankings, suggesting broad agreement on where people enjoy the highest standards of living.
