100 Best places to live in the World

Updated:

Livingcost

We ranked 9294 cities in 197 countries by quality & cost of living (13 factors assessed) to find the 100 best places in the world to live and work for singles and families.

7 indicators are country-specific:

  1. Human Freedom Index (The Cato Institute)
  2. Gross Domestic Product per capita (The World Bank)
  3. GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (The World Bank)
  4. Life expectancy (The World Bank)
  5. Homicide rate (WHO, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
  6. Mortality caused by road traffic injury (The World Bank)
  7. Corruption Perceptions Index (transparency.org)

6 indicators are city-specific:

  1. Average salary (our data)
  2. Average salary divided by cost of living (our data)
  3. Cost of living (our data)
  4. Annual average air quality (iqair.com)
  5. Distance adjusted airports score (ourairports.com)
  6. Distance adjusted universities score (edurank.org)

The last point reflects observation that good cities tend to have good universities.

Best places to live in the world infographic

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Best countries to live and work

Rank Country Quality of life Cost of living
1 Switzerland
100
$2846
2 Denmark
95
$1904
3 Australia
95
$2121
4 Ireland
93
$2387
5 Singapore
93
$3053
6 Luxembourg
93
$2357
7 Iceland
92
$2828
8 Liechtenstein
92
$2428
9 Norway
92
$1954
10 Netherlands
92
$2065
11 Sweden
91
$1540
12 Germany
91
$1601
13 United Kingdom
91
$2193
14 Finland
90
$1521
15 Japan
89
$1135
16 New Zealand
89
$1748
17 Canada
87
$1980
18 Austria
87
$1731
19 Belgium
87
$1528
20 Monaco
86
$6637
21 United States
86
$2498
22 San Marino
85
$1202
23 South Korea
84
$1116
24 France
84
$1542
25 Cayman Islands
83
$3754
26 Israel
82
$1901
27 Estonia
81
$1256
28 Cyprus
79
$1505
29 United Arab Emirates
79
$2025
30 Spain
78
$1402
31 Taiwan
78
$965
32 Andorra
78
$1599
33 Slovenia
77
$1299
34 Czech Republic
77
$1231
35 Malta
77
$1475
36 Italy
77
$1427
37 Qatar
76
$1778
38 Portugal
75
$1290
39 Lithuania
73
$1117
40 Brunei
72
$1073
41 Latvia
72
$1039
42 Poland
72
$1197
43 Slovakia
70
$1146
44 Croatia
69
$1179
45 Greece
68
$1105
46 Kuwait
67
$1393
47 Bahrain
67
$1261
48 Vatican
67
$964
49 Hungary
67
$923
50 Bulgaria
65
$824
51 Uruguay
64
$1199
52 Saudi Arabia
64
$1254
53 Romania
64
$834
54 Oman
63
$1013
55 Barbados
63
$1354
56 Chile
63
$983
57 Curacao
61
$1460
58 Malaysia
60
$652
59 Antigua and Barbuda
60
$1038
60 Montenegro
59
$982
61 Seychelles
59
$1495
62 Serbia
58
$965
63 Mauritius
58
$753
64 Maldives
58
$1399
65 Albania
57
$861
66 Costa Rica
57
$1223
67 Thailand
57
$832
68 Bahamas
55
$2662
69 Panama
55
$1323
70 Grenada
55
$1065
71 Jordan
54
$880
72 Georgia
54
$907
73 North Macedonia
53
$682
74 Turkey
52
$837
75 Argentina
52
$835
76 Fiji
52
$823
77 Armenia
51
$1105
78 Saint Kitts and Nevis
50
$1374
79 Belarus
50
$562
80 Bosnia and Herzegovina
50
$697
81 Nauru
48
$669
82 China
48
$656
83 Kazakhstan
48
$662
84 Botswana
47
$648
85 Bhutan
47
$423
86 Philippines
47
$594
87 Lebanon
47
$1115
88 Marshall Islands
47
$1489
89 Morocco
46
$644
90 Belize
46
$992
91 Peru
45
$805
92 Vanuatu
45
$1940
93 Vietnam
45
$617
94 Russia
45
$770
95 Moldova
44
$814
96 Saint Lucia
44
$1167
97 Trinidad and Tobago
44
$1090
98 Azerbaijan
44
$717
99 Samoa
43
$647
100 Indonesia
43
$586
101 Angola
43
$809
102 Sri Lanka
43
$560
103 Mexico
43
$880
104 Dominica
43
$1036
105 Ukraine
42
$591
106 Palau
42
$1192
107 Tunisia
42
$467
108 Mongolia
42
$906
109 Tonga
42
$1001
110 Cape Verde
41
$847
111 India
41
$429
112 Tuvalu
41
$660
113 Suriname
41
$879
114 Palestine
40
$911
115 Solomon Islands
40
$1410
116 Jamaica
40
$1183
117 Brazil
39
$681
118 Kenya
39
$685
119 Algeria
39
$427
120 Papua New Guinea
39
$543
121 Saint Vincent
38
$1001
122 Guyana
37
$1057
123 Cambodia
37
$786
124 Sierra Leone
37
$1324
125 Dominican Republic
37
$774
126 East Timor
37
$510
127 Paraguay
36
$551
128 Ghana
36
$606
129 Colombia
36
$757
130 Namibia
36
$824
131 El Salvador
36
$1102
132 South Africa
36
$924
133 Egypt
35
$349
134 Tanzania
34
$708
135 Bolivia
34
$702
136 Uzbekistan
34
$657
137 Kyrgyzstan
33
$651
138 Bangladesh
33
$394
139 Iran
32
$628
140 Mauritania
32
$674
141 Ecuador
32
$812
142 Cuba
32
$1188
143 Iraq
31
$765
144 Guatemala
31
$922
145 Senegal
31
$1058
146 Kiribati
29
$513
147 Nepal
29
$367
148 Rwanda
29
$710
149 Turkmenistan
27
$1561
150 Liberia
27
$520
151 Sao Tome and Principe
27
$900
152 Zambia
27
$757
153 Gabon
26
$662
154 Guinea
26
$1040
155 Libya
25
$429
156 Nicaragua
25
$685
157 Eswatini
25
$484
158 Pakistan
24
$390
159 Sudan
24
$908
160 Uganda
23
$664
161 Guinea-Bissau
23
$826
162 Equatorial Guinea
23
$929
163 Malawi
22
$549
164 Honduras
22
$874
165 Zimbabwe
22
$880
166 Togo
22
$735
167 Myanmar
20
$694
168 Laos
20
$1168
169 Tajikistan
20
$607
170 Djibouti
19
$566
171 Burkina Faso
18
$826
172 Mozambique
18
$989
173 Venezuela
17
$812
174 Cameroon
17
$844
175 Madagascar
17
$468
176 Benin
16
$686
177 Ethiopia
15
$1072
178 Niger
15
$1007
179 Gambia
15
$526
180 Congo
15
$573
181 Mali
15
$561
182 Ivory Coast
14
$982
183 Haiti
14
$527
184 Yemen
12
$524
185 DR Congo
12
$1018
186 Comoros
12
$1104
187 Burundi
11
$702
188 Lesotho
10
$594
189 Nigeria
10
$865
190 North Korea
10
$1595
191 Syria
9
$522
192 Eritrea
7
$514
193 Afghanistan
5
$455
194 Chad
5
$517
195 South Sudan
5
$507
196 Somalia
3
$697
197 Central African Republic
0
$509

100 Best cities to live in the World