The best countries for quality of life were scored across the following metrics:
- Affordable
- Good job market
- Economically stable
- Family-friendly
- Income equality
- Politically stable
- Safe
- Well-developed public education system
- Well-developed public health system
- United States ranked No. 22
- Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania surveyed
89 Countries
-
#1 in Quality of Life
#10 in Best Countries Overall
The Kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century and includes two North Atlantic island nations, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Along with Sweden and Norway, it forms Scandinavia, a cultural region in Northern Europe.Read More »
GDP
$404 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$76,688POPULATION
5.95 million -
#2 in Quality of Life
#6 in Best Countries Overall
The Kingdom of Sweden, flanked by Norway to the west and the Baltic Sea to the east, expands across much of the Scandinavian Peninsula and is one of the largest countries in the European Union by land mass. Capital city Stockholm was claimed in the 16th century, and border disputes through the Middle Ages established the modern-day nation.Read More »
GDP
$593 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$70,207POPULATION
10.5 million -
#3 in Quality of Life
#1 in Best Countries Overall
Switzerland, officially called the Swiss Confederation, is a small country in Central Europe made up of 16,000 square miles of glacier-carved Alps, lakes and valleys. It is one of the world’s wealthiest countries, and has been well-known for its neutrality.Read More »
GDP
$885 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$92,980POPULATION
8.85 million -
#4 in Quality of Life
#11 in Best Countries Overall
The Kingdom of Norway is the westernmost country in the Scandinavian peninsula, made up mostly of mountainous terrain. Nearly all of its population lives in the south, surrounding the capital, Oslo. Norway’s coastline is made up of thousands of miles of fjords, bays and island shores. The Norwegians developed a maritime culture, and were active throughout the Viking era, establishing settlements in Iceland and Greenland.Read More »
GDP
$486 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$104,460POPULATION
5.52 million -
#5 in Quality of Life
#4 in Best Countries Overall
Canada takes up about two-fifths of the North American continent, making it the second-largest country in the world after Russia. The country is sparsely populated, with most of its 35.5 million residents living within 125 miles of the U.S. border. Canada’s expansive wilderness to the north plays a large role in Canadian identity, as does the country’s reputation of welcoming immigrants.Read More »
GDP
$2.14 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$61,582POPULATION
40.1 million -
#6 in Quality of Life
#20 in Best Countries Overall
Geography defines the history and culture of Nordic Finland, one of the most northern-reaching countries in the world. Bordered by Scandinavia, Russia, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, Finland and its vast stretches of heavily forested open land acts as a northern gate between West and East.Read More »
GDP
$300 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$65,061POPULATION
5.58 million -
#7 in Quality of Life
#7 in Best Countries Overall
Germany, the most populous nation in the European Union, possesses one of the largest economies in the world and has seen its role in the international community grow steadily since reunification. The Central European country borders nine nations, and its landscape varies, from the northern plains that reach to the North and Baltic seas to the Bavarian Alps in the south.Read More »
GDP
$4.46 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$69,338POPULATION
84.5 million -
#8 in Quality of Life
#5 in Best Countries Overall
The Commonwealth of Australia occupies the Australian continent. The country also includes some islands, most notably Tasmania. Indigenous people occupied the land for at least 40,000 years before the first British settlements of the 18th century.Read More »
GDP
$1.72 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$69,115POPULATION
26.6 million -
#9 in Quality of Life
#13 in Best Countries Overall
Situated along the fringes of Western Europe, the Netherlands is a coastal lowland freckled with windmills characteristic of its development around the water. Three major European rivers - the Rhine, Meuse and Schelde - run through neighbors Germany and Belgium into the nation’s busy ports.Read More »
GDP
$1.12 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$78,215POPULATION
17.9 million -
#10 in Quality of Life
#9 in Best Countries Overall
British and Polynesian influences course through picturesque New Zealand, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia. Early Maori settlers ceded sovereignty to British invaders with the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and European settlers flooded in. Today, 70 percent of Kiwis, a common term for the people of New Zealand after a native flightless bird, are of European descent. A sense of pride has surged among the Maori, the country’s first settlers who now account for about 14 percent, as homeland grievances become more openly addressed.Read More »
GDP
$253 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$54,110POPULATION
5.22 million
-
#11 in Quality of Life
#8 in Best Countries Overall
The United Kingdom is a highly developed nation that exerts considerable international economic, political, scientific and cultural influence. Located off the northwest corner of Europe, the country includes the island of Great Britain – which contains England, Scotland and Wales – and the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The country’s role on the global stage faces new questions as the nation withdrew from the European Union. , as well as the policies supporting the eurozone.Read More »
GDP
$3.34 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$58,906POPULATION
68.4 million -
#12 in Quality of Life
#21 in Best Countries Overall
Austria a culturally rich, high-income parliamentary democracy that hosts several key international organizations. Located in the heart of Central Europe, the modern Austrian state was shaped by the two world wars of the 20th century.Read More »
GDP
$516 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$73,751POPULATION
9.13 million -
#13 in Quality of Life
#23 in Best Countries Overall
The Kingdom of Belgium is a small, highly developed and urbanized country in Western Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France and the North Sea. The nation known for beer, chocolate and castles features Dutch, French and German as official languages.Read More »
GDP
$632 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$70,456POPULATION
11.8 million -
#14 in Quality of Life
#2 in Best Countries Overall
Japan, one of the world’s most literate and technically advanced nations, is an East Asian country made up of four main islands. While most of Japan is covered by mountains and heavily wooded areas, the country’s roughly 126 million people lead a distinctly urban lifestyle. Long culturally influenced by its neighbors, today the country blends its ancient traditions with aspects of Western life.Read More »
GDP
$4.21 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$50,207POPULATION
125 million -
#15 in Quality of Life
#24 in Best Countries Overall
The Republic of Ireland is an island nation in the Atlantic Ocean, separated from Britain on the east by the Irish Sea. Nicknamed the Emerald Isle for its well-watered grasslands, the country is known for its rich cultural traditions, lively pub scene and its struggles for independence. The country comprises five-sixths of the island of Ireland – the remaining sixth is Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. After a bloody fight for independence and civil war in the early 20th century, Ireland became a republic in 1949.Read More »
GDP
$546 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$127,623POPULATION
5.26 million -
#16 in Quality of Life
#12 in Best Countries Overall
It is difficult to overstate the influence France has on the world, both in the past and today. Located in Western Europe, France is one of the world’s oldest countries, and its reach extends around the globe through science, politics, economics and perhaps above all, culture. Starting in the Middle Ages, France evolved through kingdom, empire and finally, into a republic. It was one of the first nations to champion the rights of the individual.Read More »
GDP
$3.03 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$61,157POPULATION
68.2 million -
#17 in Quality of Life
#27 in Best Countries Overall
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a landlocked country in Western Europe with Belgium to the west, France to the south and Germany to the east. The country is one of the smallest in the world, as well as one of the wealthiest. Castles and churches dot its forests and rolling hills.Read More »
GDP
$85.8 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$143,341POPULATION
669 thousand -
#18 in Quality of Life
#19 in Best Countries Overall
A number of independent kingdoms united in 1492 to form the Kingdom of Spain, a cultural patchwork that continues to shape the modern nation’s dynamic identity. Spain comprises much of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Portugal on the southwestern edge of Europe. It also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and two enclaves in North Africa.Read More »
GDP
$1.58 trillionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$52,779POPULATION
48.4 million -
#19 in Quality of Life
#22 in Best Countries Overall
Iceland is a northern European island country in the Atlantic Ocean, with Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland to its northwest. The Nordic country is famous for its natural beauty, hot springs and volcanoes.Read More »
GDP
$31.0 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$77,567POPULATION
394 thousand -
#20 in Quality of Life
#29 in Best Countries Overall
Jutting into the Atlantic Ocean on the edge of the Iberian Peninsula and flanked by Spain to the east, Portugal is a nation with its gaze turned outward. Its history is steeped in discovery and exploration, beginning with early leaders that, after ousting Celtic and Moorish settlers in the 12th century, focused on building their kingdom beyond continental borders.Read More »
GDP
$287 billionGDP PER CAPITA, PPP
$48,759POPULATION
10.5 million
