In 2025, Luxembourg reached the highest score in the quality of life index in Europe, with 220 points. In second place, The Netherlands registered 211 points. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Albania and Ukraine registered the lowest quality of life across Europe with 104 and 115 points respectively. The Quality of Life Index (where a higher score indicates a higher quality of life) is an estimation of overall quality of life, calculated using an empirical formula. This formula considers various factors, including the purchasing power index, pollution index, house price-to-income ratio, cost of living index, safety index, health care index, traffic commute time index, and climate index.

The World Council on City Data (WCCD) awarded the City of Melbourne a platinum designation for its compliance with ISO 37120 (http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=62436), the world’s first international standard for city indicators. Reporting to the standard allows cities to compare their service delivery and quality of life to other cities globally. The City of Melbourne was one on 20 cities to, globally to help pilot this program and is one of sixteen cities to receive the highest level of accreditation (platinum). \r
Having an international standard methodology to measure city performance allows the City of Melbourne to share data about practices in service delivery, learn from other global cities, rank its results relative to those cities, and address common challenges through more informed decision making. \r
Indicators include: Fire and emergency response; Governance; Health; Recreation; Safety; Shelter; Solid Waste; Telecommunications and Innovation; Transportation; Urban Planning; Wastewater; Water and Sanitation; Economy; Education; Energy; Environment; and Finance.\r
City of Melbourne also submitted an application for accreditation, on behalf of ‘Greater Melbourne’, to the World Council on City Data and this resulted in an ‘Aspirational’ accreditation awarded to wider Melbourne. \r
A summary of Melbourne's results is available here (http://open.dataforcities.org/). Visit the World Council on City Data’s Open Data Portal to compare our results to other cities from around the world.

In 2023, Paris was the most livable city worldwide according to the Global Power City Index (GCPI), with 390 points. Furthermore, Madrid was the second most livable city with 380.9 points, while Tokyo was the third with 367.7 points.

The criteria taken into consideration include, among others, costs and ease of living, number of retail shops and restaurants, and availability of medical services.

Data was initially taken from Numbeo as an aggregation of user voting.

• Quality of Life Index varies from 0 (bad quality) to 190 (top good quality)

This dataset is one of the public parts of City API project data. Need more? Try our full data

In 2024, Bangladesh's capital Dhaka had a pollution index score of ****, the highest among megacities in the Asia-Pacific region. In contrast, Japan's capital Tokyo had a pollution index score of **** that year. Megacities on course for growth The United Nations defines megacities as cities with over ten million inhabitants. The population living in megacities has doubled in size in the last twenty years and is expected to rise even more until 2035. Today, the Asia-Pacific region is home to the highest number of megacities, with China and India alone accounting for around half of all megacities worldwide. At the same time, only half of the population in Asia is living in cities. This figure is also expected to rise exponentially over the next years, especially with much of the younger population migrating to larger cities. The growth of megacities and their higher population densities bring along several environmental problems. Exposure to pollution in India The most populated cities in APAC are located in Japan, China and India. As seen above, India's capital also falls among the top three most polluted megacities in the region and ranks second among the most polluted capital cities worldwide with an average PM2.5 concentration. As one of the fastest emerging economies in the world, India's rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to high pollution rates in different areas. The volume of emissions from coal-fired power plants has led to electricity and heat accounting for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in India. The country is also among the nations with the highest population share exposed to hazardous concentrations of air pollution worldwide.

This statistic shows a list of the best cities to live in around the world as of 2019. The rating is based on five indicators: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. In 2019, the Austrian capital Vienna topped the ranking with 99.1 out of 100 possible points.

A list of some key resources for comparing London with other world cities.

European Union/Eurostat, Urban Audit

Arcadis, Sustainable cities index

AT Kearney, Global Cities Index

McKinsey, Urban world: Mapping the economic power of cities

Knight Frank, Wealth report

OECD, Better Life Index

UNODC, Statistics on drugs, crime and criminal justice at the international level

Economist, Hot Spots

Economist, Global Liveability Ranking and Report August 2014

Mercer, Quality of Living Reports

PWC, Cities of opportunity

BCG, Decoding Global Talent

Forbes, World's most influential cities

Mastercard, Global Destination Cities Index

Numbeo, Database of user contributed data

Tempe’s roadways are an important means of transportation for residents, the workforce, students, and visitors. Tempe measures the quality and condition of its roadways using a Pavement Quality Index (PQI). This measure, rated from a low of 0 to a high of 100, is used by the City to plan for maintenance and repairs, and to allocate resources in the most efficient way possible.

Cities are in constant competition for residents, business and employees and inclusiveness is an important factor that attracts all three. The Municipal Equality Index (MEI) specifically measures laws and policies of municipalities to examine how inclusive cities are of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) people.Administered by the Human Rights Campaign, the MEI scorecard criteria annually evaluates a municipality on six categories with bonus points available: Non-Discrimination Laws: This category evaluates whether discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is prohibited by city, county or state in areas of employment m housing and public accommodations.Relationship Recognition: Marriage, civil unions, and comprehensive domestic partnerships are matters of state policy; cities and counties have only the power to create domestic partner registries.Municipality as Employer: By offering equivalent benefits and protections to LGBTQ employees, and by awarding contracts to fair-minded businesses, municipalities commit themselves to treating LGBTQ employees equally.Municipal Services: The section assesses the efforts of the city to ensure LGBTQ constituents are included in city services and programs.Law Enforcement: Fair enforcement of the law includes responsible reporting of hate crimes and engaging with the LGBTQ community in a thoughtful and respectful way.Relationship with the LGBTQ Community: This category measures the city leadership’s commitment to fully include the LGBTQ community and to advocate for full equality.Additional information available at hrc.org/meiThis page provides data for the Municipality Equality Index performance measure.The performance measure dashboard is available at 3.12 Municipal Equality Index.Additional InformationSource: Contact: Wydale HolmesContact E-Mail: wydale_holmes@tempe.govData Source Type: ExcelPreparation Method: Publish Frequency: Annually, OctoberPublish Method: ManualData Dictionary

This map shows a selection of key indicators from the Canadian Policy Research Network’s Citizens’ Report Card. The Report Card is the outcome of the Quality of Life Indicators Project, which brought together 350 Canadians in 40 different dialogue groups in 21 towns and cities across Canada to produce a prototype set of quality of life indicators.

Abstract

This dataset is from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory which is a partnership between the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Gauteng Provincial Government and several Gauteng municipalities. The GCRO has conducted previous Quality of Life Surveys in 2009 (Round 1), 2011 (Round 2), 2013-2014 (Round 3) and 2015-2016 (Round 4), and 2017-2018 (Round 5). Round 6 was conducted in 2020-2021 and is the latest round of the survey.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers the Gauteng province in South Africa.

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Universe

The survey covers all adult residence in Gauteng province, South Africa.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Bangalore ranked first in the Ease of Living Survey conducted among more than 49 million cities across India in 2020. The southern metropolis, which was Karnataka's capital, also ranked first that year in economic abilities, and ranked 12 in the quality of life category.

This survey monitors wellbeing among residents of the City of Guelph, located in Ontario, Canada. The survey is a joint initiative of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing in partnership with the City of Guelph. The purpose of the survey is to better understand subjective perceptions of wellbeing of residents in the survey area. The primary objectives of this survey are to (a) gather data on the wellbeing of residents which could be monitored o ver time; and, (b) to provide information on specific aspects of wellbeing that could be used to inform policy issues and community action. The survey provides information based on eight domains of wellbeing, as identified by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing: Community Vitality, Democratic Engagement, Environment, Education, Healthy Populations, Leisure and Culture, Living Standards, and Time Use. The questionnaire collected additional information about socio-economic and household characteristics, and feelings of overall satisfaction with each domain of wellbeing. A total of N=1,390 residents completed the survey.

This statistic shows a ranking of the best U.S. federal states to live in, according to selected metrics and based on a survey among more than 530,000 Americans. The survey was conducted between January 2011 and June 2012. The findings are presented as index scores composed of the scores regarding various parameters*. According to this index, Utah is the city with the highest liveability and life quality, as it scored 7.5 points.

Abstract

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) was established in 2008 as a partnership between the University of Johannesburg (UJ), the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG), with municipalities in Gauteng also represented. The objective of the GCRO is to inform policy in various spheres of the Gauteng government with data on the quality of the lives of people who live in Guateng. The Quality of Life Survey IV was conducted in 2015 and 2016.

Geographic coverage

The Quality of Life Survey covers the whole of Gauteng and also areas with GCR 'footprints' in the four neighbouring provinces of Free State, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The lowest level of geographic aggregation of the data is municipality.

Analysis unit

Household and individual

Universe

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory's Quality of Life Survey covers all household residents of Gauteng and selected areas of the four neighbouring provinces of Free State, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The survey instrument (questionnaire) which was used was provided by the GCRO. The instrument was similar to the questionnaire used for the initial Quality of Life survey, with new questions being added only where questions from the previous survey were removed. This was done with the intention of keeping the duration of the survey the same as the initial one. The survey instrument was a 20 page questionnaire, broken up into 12 sections. The bulk of the possible answers were pre-defined, such that most of the survey could be answered using a combination of tick-boxes or by writing down a number from a predefined set. There are therefore not many open-ended questions in the survey.

Urban areas have always been an attraction for the population. As a result, urbanization is constantly happening as more people migrate to cities. This is since urban areas have become a hope for improving the quality of life. This study aims to measure and analyze the Quality of Life (QoL) Index and the influence of economic and geographical factors on the urban QoL during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data used in this study is the Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) in 2020 from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency. The findings show that larger cities tend to have a good QoL index. Meanwhile, remote cities or island regions have a low QoL, as indicated by a low QoL Index. population density, per capita consumption expenditure, and urban economic growth positively influence the urban QoL.

In 2024, Bergamo was the most livable province in Italy, according to the annual study conducted by the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Trento and Bolzano followed in the ranking. Among the top-15 provinces, only Ascoli Piceno and Siena are located in central Italy, while all others are in the north, confirming the deep north-south divide between these two areas of the country. As far as macro categories are concerned, Biella, located in Piedmont, recorded the best score in wealth and consumption, while Milan for business and employment. Ascoli Piceno was the best province in terms of security and justice, and Bolzano performed very well in demography and society. Lastly, for environment and services, Brescia ranked at the top, whereas citizens could enjoy at best their leisure and cultural activities in Trieste.

Quality of life related to health in children, by sex and Autonomous Community. Average and standard deviation. Population aged 8 to 15 years old. Autonomous Community.

In 2024, the capital of Egypt, Cairo, scored 91 in the pollution index, the highest in Africa. Accra, Ghana, and Lagos, Nigeria, followed, with an index score of 90.1 and 88.2, respectively.The cities with the highest pollution indices are among the largest urban agglomerations on the continent.

The LSDC’s fourth Quality of Life Indicators report was launched at City Hall on 30th January 2013. The report provides a snapshot of London’s quality of life and identifies the sustainability issues London faces. The indicator set encompasses 33 headline indicators across the environmental, social and economic spheres. It provides baseline data that will inform the Commission’s future work programme and advice to the Mayor. The Mayor wants London to be the best big city in the world. The London Sustainable Development Commission supports this aspiration and believes that as part of being ‘best’ we should work to make London the benchmark for sustainable cities by 2020. To improve our chances of achieving this we need first to know what this would mean in economic, environmental and social terms; where we currently stand; and then measure progress against these issues. The LSDC produced the first Quality of Life Indicators Report in 2004 and subsequent reports were produced in 2005 and 2009. The previous reports can be found on the LSDC website.