World’s Top 30 Best Countries To Live In 2023

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Where on earth do the happiest people reside? Which one is the best place to live in / relocate to? If you have these many questions racing through your mind continue to read on. Starting from 2013, every year our team, Lifestyle9 releases the list “Best countries to live in the world” based on the landmark surveys and authentic reports from trustworthy sources around the world. Every year it goes viral and takes the internet by storm. We have come a long way since our first report and this year we took our research to the next level.

How We Calculated the Lifestyle9 Score?

The economic growth of any particular country is often conflated with the living standards of the people who live over there. But is that enough to determine any country as “ThBest country to live“? Certainly not, there are many other factors that come into play.

To make sense, after conducting our extended research, we came up with our official score based on the 10 the unique factors. All the indexes are explained in detail to give you a better understanding.

Each entry in our table is marked in the range [1, 10] where the highest score (10) indicates strongly positive and the lowest score (1) indicates strongly negative.

  1. Happiness score

It’s is the correlated average of the inevitable psychological measures like GDP per capita, Social support, Healthy life expectancy, individual freedom, generosity, perception of corruption, residual and confidence level.  While measuring the well being of any country it’s very important to measure the level of happiness. Increasingly the governments around the world started to consider this measure as one of the key measures while framing their global public policies.

The happiness score we included here is taken from “The World happiness report” released by “The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)” last year.

Even if a country gets ticks in all the boxes indicating the economy, wealth, power, lifestyle, climate, and any, if its people report a lack of happiness, what’s the use of declaring that as the best country? It’s the reason why we have given such importance to this measure.

  1. Education Index  

The Education Index is measured from the “Mean years of schooling index” and the “Expected years of schooling index.”

  1. Job Index

Having a steady decent income earning job helps people to stay connected with society. This measure is taken from a combined score of employment rate, personal earnings, job security, and long term employment among the age group 15 to 64.

  1. Work Life Balance

Work life balance (WLB) is an indicator that describes the prioritization between work and personal care (health, leisure, family, please.) Upon the realization of its importance, governments around the world strive to bring a better work life balance in every sector in recent years.

  1. Civic Engagement

Having a stable government that is transparent in making decisions is a key for social well being and cohesion. Civic engagement is the average mean of the measures of political stability, transparency, control over corruption and voter turns outs. These values are, in fact, harsh realities for people living in certain countries.

  1. Global Peace Index

This aspect concerns the crime rate and safety index in a country. The experiences of tourists, societal safety and security, Internal peace, External peace, Positive Peace Index, and Militarization all these factors have been taken into account in forming this score. The original scores are ranging from [-2.25 to 2.25] where -2.25 indicates the less peaceful state and 2.25 indicates the more peaceful state. We did simple conversion math to derive our official score in the background.

This score is taken from the popular report “Global Peace Index“.

  1. Health

This index is calculated by considering the factors like life expectancy, wellness, and public access to healthcare, advancements and quality of healthcare systems.

  1. HDI Index

    (Human Development Index)

As the name signifies, it is a combined data measurement of literacy, standards of living, life expectancy and quality of life in countries worldwide. Analysts, by using the data, can calculate – if a country is developed, developing, or underdeveloped. It is used for evaluating the importance and benefit of various economic policies on the value or quality of life in a country.        

  1. Disaster Risk Management Index

This parameter is given in the range 0 to 10 where 0 indicates the minimum risk and 10 indicates the maximum risk. The percentage usually denotes the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters and humanitarian crises around the world. The natural negative effects include floods, earthquakes, droughts, storms, and sea level rises (tsunamis). Data of this index is collected from the Inform index for risk management.

  1. EPI (Environmental Performance Index)

The rankings of EPI are based on the performance of countries on environmental issues in two broad areas – preservation of ecosystems and protection of health (human) from any environmental harm or destruction.  

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty – Winston Churchill

Figures apart, each one of these countries has its own traits that can make anyone astonished. We tell you those facts along the way. Now, let’s start our journey in reverse chronological order.

Top 30 Best Countries To Live In The World

Tell Us, How Happy Are You?

On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is the best (perfect) and 1 is somewhat okay, tell us which country you reside and how happy you are. Hit your comments in the comment section. We’re all ears!

30

Portugal


 Lifestyle9 Score: 5.08

  • This country offers the most stable climate than any other country in the whole of Europe. (3,300 hours of sunshine).
  • Portuguese are very welcoming, gracious & friendly. 90% of the total population speak foreign languages. Mostly English.
  • Being situated in the middle of 3 continents(America, Europe, and Africa) Portugal serves as a central place for all international routes. You can find international airports all around the country.
  • Portugal is one of the very few countries that have a well-defined border with political stability.
  • For those who want to explore the beauty of Portugal, it offers a modern road network. It only takes not more than 2 hours to move around the major cities from north to south.Its clear and transparent taxation rules make Portugal to be one of the best countries to invest in properties.
  • According to UBS, the Cost of living in Portugal is very low when compared with the all other European Countries.

29

Chile


 Lifestyle9 Score: 5.18

  • If you are planning an escape route to South America, your best option to settle down can’t be anything better than this “Beautiful Chilie”. Expats who live here Call this country as American Switzerland.
  • Its natural beauty, gorgeous weather, clean exciting cities, well planned efficient transportation systems, strong economy all these factors have started to attract the expats attention more and more in recent years.
  • Its Lake District with pale green lakes, skiing, wildlife and snow capped volcanoes are really hard to beat.
  • With its long 3999 miles of coastlines, Chilie offers 4 different climates and a variety of lifestyle options. From sunny Seaside beaches to the beautiful mountain villages to the busy breeze filling towns you can choose to live anywhere in your budget. Huffington post rates this country as the best place to retire and settle down.
  • Unfortunately, the people here are food addicts and their addiction goes with the name “ICE CREAM“. They love Ice cream. Most of the time, either you can see them eating ice creams or lining up in a queue to buy them.

28

Taiwan


 Lifestyle9 score: 5.22

  • Officially known as the ‘Republic of China’, Taiwan has grown into a full-fledged economy and is a member of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and WTO (World Trade Organization).
  • Taiwan gains substantial points in providing healthcare, economic freedom, public education and freedom to the press.
  • For the 2nd time in a row, this year Taiwan has made its spot on the list  Top 10 safest countries in the world as well.
  • People of Taiwan are more friendly, kind hearted and well mannered.
  • Major attractions of Taiwan are the National Palace Museum (it comprises more than 650000 artifacts, items and pieces of Chinese history – painting, calligraphy, porcelain, jade, etc). Other attractions are Penghu Islands (Archipelago), Ximending, Alishan National Scenic Area and Yang Ming Mountain.
  • Taroko National Park is situated on the East Coast of Taiwan. The park covers portions of Nantou County, Hualien County and Taichung City. Taking its name from Taroko Gorge, the park contains steep cliffs, breathtaking valleys, beautiful scenic waterfalls and streams. The world famous part of Taroko Gorge is known as the ‘Tunnel of Nine Turns’.

27

Japan


 Lifestyle9 Score: 5.26

  • Strong religious freedom, Excellent healthcare, a High literacy rate, High life expectancy are some important factors that make Japan stand out from the rest of the world.
  • In Japan, people die hardly due to diseases. They maintain a high record for keeping diseases at a minimum. Unlike other countries, in Japan diseases are not a major national threatening issue that kills people in the bunch.
  • In Japan, Garbage Cleaner is given the title of Health Engineer. Getting this job is not that easy. He has to take up certificate courses to qualify for this job. The monthly salary of a typical health engineer comes around $8000 while in other countries this role hardly exceeds $300.
  • People of Japan follow the rules and regulations by their nature. It made this country to be recognized as the 8th safest country in the world.
  • Regardless of the work pressure, they undergo in their working environment, they still show their compassion to co-workers and other members of society. It is often represented as one of the best qualities of these people.
  • The people of Japan are known to be inventors. Their inventions and successful adoption of technologies often take the world by surprise.

26

 South Korea


Lifestyle9 Score: 5.37

  • Whether want to visit or settle down in South Korea, you can pack your baggage without any second thoughts because the people of this country are amazingly nice. However, it’s good to not plan around its below freezing winter seasons. Winter of Korea is not a joke.
  • People of Korea are tech savvy and have a strong liking for luxury brands. They swipe their credit cards more often than any other people in the world. Their credit card usage, high-speed internet everything turned this country into a perfect marketplace for online luxury retailers.
  • South Korean Television shows and their pop culture often create a direct influence on international consumer purchases.
  • They are the most wired people in the world.82.7% of the South Korean population use the internet They have a virtual supermarket, digital countdown installed at bus stops and a GPS system in every cab.
  • People around the world fly to South Korea not only for their awesome plastic surgical results but also for getting the ideal deals.

25

Italy


Lifestyle9 Score: 5.38

  • In Italy, there are lots of things that need to be improved to make it a perfect nation but still these few not to love about Italy can’t make this wonderful country stay behind from the best countries list. Break your pre assumed thoughts if you had any before you start to read about this country.
  • Once home to ground breaking arts and artists, today modern Italy attracts expats by boasting love in the air. We all knew it!
  • Accompanied by its rich culture, each part of a country tells a different fascinating story and boasts world class restaurants, artworks, monuments and museums.
  • With more than 4,600 miles of coastlines, Italy boasts 27 marine parks and Mediterranean beaches in Europe. Spending your leisure time at these beaches is more like swimming in the tropical water.
  • Italians are well known for their famous work of music and arts, close family ties and not to mention their food addictions.
  • For expats, it’s one of the most welcoming countries. Expats population comes around 6% of Italy’s total population. It’s needless to say that foreigners will not find it hard to develop friendships with locals.

24

United States


 Lifestyle9 score: 5.39

  • It’s needless to say that the United States is one of the countries which offers convenience to the core. This is the place where you can get anything, at any point in time.
  • One of the best things that include the United States in the best countries list is its, “Freedom Of Speech” which means they respect each other’s rights to voice their opinion. You can criticize even the President, the Government, Politicians, Professionals or anyone.
  • Just like Australians, even Americans are very kind hearted. When it comes to disaster-scale events, nothing can stand before the strength of Americans’ unity.
  • People of the United States are remarkably creative.No other countries in the world have as much expertise as Americans have in almost all fields.
  • Racial diversity & The Great Cultural Mix are two other important factors that anyone can enjoy in the United States.
  • When we talk about the United States, it becomes inevitable to skip the entertainment industry, especially the movie industry.
  • The Grand Canyon, as the name signifies, is a geological wonder situated in the desert of Arizona.
  • Las Vegas in Nevada is popular for its gambling casinos and nightlife entertainment.
  • The moment you hear the word “United States” you are reminded of the “Statue of Liberty” sculpture in New York City. The statue, a female figure in robes, represents Libertas (Roman Goddess).

23

United Arab Emirates


 Lifestyle9 score: 5.42

  • UAE and Qatar are the two Islamic countries from the Gulf region that made our list. These countries may not sound like the best place to live for many people because you can not own anything if you are not a citizen there. And you will not get citizenship even if you live your whole life there. Culturally they may not be suitable for Europeans and Americans. But for the people who are born in UAE and who are the actual citizens, it is the best place to live without a question.
  • Almost every resident of the United Arab Emirates is rich. Their government does not impose any tax on the income. Disregarding the common belief, oil resources are not the only reason for their richness. In fact, they account for only 7% of the total wealth. The rest of the income is generated from the heavy investments made in Industrial organizations and technologies.
  • The United Arab Emirates, also called as UAE or Emirates is a country comprising of seven emirates. These seven are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Fujairah, Umm al-Quwain, Sharjah and Khaimah. Every emirate is ruled by a monarch and all the monarchs collectively form the Federal Supreme Council. Being a Muslim country, Islam is mainly practiced while Arabic is regarded as the official language. It has multiple oil reserves (fourth largest) and natural gas reserves.
  • Burj Khalifa is a famous skyscraper in Dubai. It has achieved the honor of being the tallest man-made structure in the world.
  • The judicial system is based on Sharia law – flogging can be given as punishment for acts such as premarital sex, adultery and alcohol consumption. The number of floggings can vary depending on the case – for example, people kissing in public may receive 80 lashes. For premarital sex, the number of lashes is 100.
  • Homosexuality is considered immoral in Sharia law and is labeled a capital offense. Stoning and amputation are considered legal punishments in the UAE.
  • If you are an expatriate, you are forbidden to publicly smoke, drink or eat during the month of Ramadan between the duration of sunrise and sunset. People exempted from the strict practice of Ramadan are children and pregnant women. The law applies to the entire public, whether you be a Muslim or a non-Muslim. You would find all restaurants closed during the set time. Football is a very popular sport in the UAE.

22

Costa Rica


 Lifestyle9 score: 5.44

  • The people of Costa Rica have expressed the highest level of life satisfaction than in any other country. Apart from that, there are hundreds of reasons that suggest why you should move to Costa Rica if you ever consider relocation.
  •  It offers an excellent lifestyle at the best possible cost. It’s well established, the transparent political state makes this country more appealing, happier and fast growing.
  • Costa Rica is well known for its safety. You can rarely hear of people involved in any kind of crime here and there.
  • It is one of the greenest, happiest countries known for its beach destinations.
  • Since this peaceful country can cut back the costs of a standing army, they spend their money on offering universal health care and free educational programs.
  • Their high quality up to date health care systems make its people healthier. The life expectancy of Costa Rica comes to around 79 years which is one of the highest scores in the world.
  • Costa Rica is not behind in technology too. It offers reliable high speed internet even in remote areas. People of Costa Rica update their lifestyle with up to date technologies.
  • It also offers lots of business opportunities for those who intend to start their own business.

21

France


 Lifestyle9 Score: 5.51

  • French people are well known for their lifestyle. They usually enjoy a better lifestyle than any other people in the world.
  • France is set to have the highest number of the Muslim population in the whole of Europe. (Nearly 6 million).
  • One of the main factors which enable France to win the ranking is its world-class healthcare system. Expecting moms are treated like a treasure here.
  • It has won the title of “Best Place in the World “ for 5 times in a row by International Living magazine which awards 100 points for its health care, safety & risk and 92 points for its infrastructure.
  • Special things about France are TGV trains, beaches, Food and culture, ski resorts, Extra hospital beds last, but not least it’s always warm climate.

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