Standard of Living by Country 2026

Luxembourg

218.20

Highest

Nigeria

15.60

Lowest

Quality of Life Numbeo

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

Finland

208.30

Countries Ranked by Quality of Life Index

Country	Quality of Life Numbeo 2025↓	Quality of Life (US News) 2025	Quality of Life Score (CEO World) 2025	Quality of Life Rank (US News) 2022
Luxembourg	218.20	61.70	92.52
Netherlands	216.50	85.60	95.70	7th
Denmark	215.10	100.00	96.92	2nd
Oman	215.10	8.80	80.77	70th
Switzerland	210.90	96.50	97.90	5th
Finland	208.30	90.00	95.12	8th
Norway	199.20	94.30	97.87	4th
Iceland	198.00	58.00	97.47
Austria	197.70	78.80	92.50	11th
Germany	195.20	88.70	96.54	9th
Australia	195.10	88.10	95.78	6th
New Zealand	194.70	81.50	93.74	10th
Sweden	192.20	99.90	97.28	3rd
United States	192.10	55.40	93.07	20th
Estonia	189.80	14.90	89.72	48th
Qatar	189.40	36.20	87.22	34th
Japan	188.80	73.10	92.34	13th
Spain	187.20	59.80	90.37	19th
Slovenia	182.40	15.00	92.40	54th
Croatia	181.70	25.00	87.47	37th
Lithuania	178.80	16.20	88.37	56th
United Kingdom	177.20	80.50	93.82	14th
Czechia	176.30	31.40	89.56
United Arab Emirates	174.20	46.90	93.68	24th
Saudi Arabia	173.70	30.80	87.43	33rd
Belgium	173.70	76.40	95.18	12th
Canada	170.50	94.20	88.21	100th
Ireland	169.60	69.80	96.08	15th
France	169.50	61.80	90.22	17th
Israel	169.50	12.70	91.88	36th
Portugal	169.10	57.80	87.00	21st
Latvia	168.10	14.90	87.85	50th
Kuwait	167.90	15.90	84.54
Cyprus	160.40	14.50	90.10
Taiwan	160.20		93.66
Slovakia	159.40	14.60	86.31	46th
Poland	157.20	51.70	88.42	25th
Singapore	156.70	53.10	95.90	16th
Puerto Rico	156.60
Italy	154.40	55.40	89.76	22nd
South Africa	153.80	13.80
South Korea	153.50	50.30	93.23	18th
Bulgaria	148.30	18.30	78.60	42nd
Hungary	147.10	30.70	86.04	30th
Romania	145.10	18.30	83.05	44th
Greece	140.40	34.50		26th
Hong Kong	139.00		97.31
Uruguay	137.20	11.50	83.59	55th
Malaysia	136.70	30.10	79.53	28th
Malta	136.10		90.78
Belarus	134.80		78.97	72nd
Turkey	134.00	28.40	86.59	40th
Ecuador	130.80	7.50	75.85	65th
Costa Rica	130.20	14.10	79.42
Georgia	129.10		80.55
China	127.70	49.40	77.25	23rd
Mexico	127.40	23.30	77.04	41st
Serbia	127.20	5.60	79.40	74th
Jordan	126.90	7.10	72.31	68th
Panama	125.60	7.20	81.57	62nd
India	124.40	20.90		38th
North Macedonia	123.50		75.29
Argentina	122.10	16.40	85.09	59th
Armenia	120.20		77.08
Tunisia	119.00	8.30		66th
Ukraine	117.80		72.15	61st
Azerbaijan	114.40	4.20	74.32	73rd
Morocco	114.10	17.80		47th
Russia	113.50	17.70	81.84	31st
Chile	112.10	14.70	86.69	43rd
Kazakhstan	108.20	4.00	79.32	71st
Colombia	106.30	9.30	73.82	60th
Pakistan	105.70		54.32
Albania	104.10		77.27
Lebanon	102.80		69.82	77th
Indonesia	101.60	21.50	68.68	35th
Philippines	98.10	20.20	68.63	39th
Vietnam	96.60	21.80	70.72	32nd
Kenya	95.40	6.30	58.83	69th
Peru	90.70	12.10	74.87	57th
Iran	86.70		76.68
Egypt	83.20	13.40	71.17	51st
Sri Lanka	82.80	8.30	76.55	58th
Bangladesh	77.00	10.80	63.11
Venezuela	73.70		67.69
Nigeria	15.60		54.69
Brazil		20.30	74.49	52nd
Ethiopia			51.95
DR Congo			50.22
Tanzania			53.48
Thailand		27.30	79.33	29th
Myanmar		6.10	59.16	67th
Sudan			52.66
Uganda			54.73
Algeria		5.30	73.66
Iraq			63.25	78th
Afghanistan			49.47
Yemen			47.77
Angola			58.05
Uzbekistan			70.94	76th
Mozambique			49.39
Ghana		6.10	59.02
Madagascar			50.87
Ivory Coast			53.78
Cameroon		3.60	57.58
Nepal			58.47
Niger			46.15
North Korea			49.08
Syria			56.20
Mali			47.55
Burkina Faso			47.84
Malawi			52.54
Zambia			56.56
Somalia			45.09
Senegal			52.83
Guatemala		4.00	61.79	64th
Cambodia		9.50	58.43	49th
Zimbabwe		4.40	54.72
Guinea			50.17
Benin			52.37
Rwanda			54.59
Burundi			47.62
Bolivia			65.72
South Sudan			45.16
Haiti			55.09
Dominican Republic		11.20	75.93	53rd
Honduras		4.00	61.09
Tajikistan			63.40
Papua New Guinea			56.49
Cuba			75.16
Togo			54.46
Sierra Leone			48.14
Laos			60.95
Turkmenistan			73.54
Libya			73.81
Kyrgyzstan			68.20
Nicaragua			62.99
Paraguay			71.45
Republic of the Congo			49.36
El Salvador		2.90	63.27	75th
Liberia			50.67
Central African Republic			45.48
Palestine			69.27
Mauritania			54.30
Eritrea			51.97
Mongolia			73.04
Namibia			60.54
Moldova			75.08
Gambia			52.27
Jamaica			68.36
Gabon			64.84
Botswana			68.53
Lesotho			52.89
Guinea-Bissau			50.63
Equatorial Guinea			62.61
Bahrain		12.40	89.21
Trinidad and Tobago			80.45
Timor-Leste			56.47
Eswatini			59.26
Mauritius			78.02
Djibouti			52.64
Fiji			71.27
Comoros			56.74
Solomon Islands			56.23
Guyana			73.28
Bhutan			64.79
Macau			91.49
Suriname			64.81
Montenegro			84.23
Brunei			82.08
Belize			67.87
Bahamas			81.24
Vanuatu			60.84
Barbados			80.27
Sao Tome and Principe			60.62
Samoa			68.29
Saint Lucia			70.19
Kiribati			61.26
Seychelles			79.29
Micronesia			62.43
Tonga			72.45
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines			76.12
Andorra			88.62
Dominica			72.91
Saint Kitts and Nevis			83.83
Liechtenstein			93.84
Monaco			94.16
Marshall Islands			71.33
San Marino			86.89
Palau			78.14
Nauru			64.93
Tuvalu			62.73

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 based on an equally weighted average of scores from nine country attributes that relate to quality of life in a country: affordability, state of the job market, economic stablity, family friendliness, income equality, political stability, safety, and the level of development of the country’s public education and public health systems.
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

Luxembourg has the highest Quality of Life Index score at 218.20. The three countries with the highest quality of life scores are Luxembourg (218.20), Netherlands (216.50), and Denmark (215.10).
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

Nigeria has the lowest Quality of Life Index score at 15.60. The three countries with the lowest quality of life scores are Bangladesh (77.00), Venezuela (73.70), and Nigeria (15.60).
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.

Definitions & Methodology

Standard of Living vs Quality of Life Standard of living primarily focuses on economic measures such as income, purchasing power, affordability, employment opportunities, and material comfort. Quality of life is a broader concept that also incorporates health outcomes, personal safety, environmental conditions, social wellbeing, and overall life satisfaction. Most modern rankings blend elements of both concepts.

How Is the Quality of Life Index Calculated? Numbeo's Quality of Life Index combines eight weighted factors into a single score: purchasing power, safety, healthcare, cost of living, property price-to-income ratio, traffic commute time, pollution, and climate. Financial factors help measure economic comfort, while healthcare, safety, pollution, and climate help measure daily livability. Higher scores indicate a better overall quality of life.

Other Ranking Systems Several organizations publish alternative measures of living standards and quality of life. The U.S. News Best Countries Report evaluates factors such as affordability, job opportunities, income equality, and political stability using survey-based research. The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) relies on empirical measures including life expectancy, educational attainment, and gross national income per capita rather than public opinion surveys.

Last Updated: June 16, 2026

Standard of Living by Country 2026

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Denmark

Oman

Switzerland

Finland

Countries Ranked by Quality of Life Index