City Quality of Life Indices are

lists of cities This is a list of lists of cities: Cities proper * List of largest cities * Lists of cities by country * Lists of cities by continent (or continental region) ** Lists of cities in Africa ** Lists of cities in Asia ** Lists of cities in Centra ...

that are ranked according to a defined measure of living conditions. In addition to considering the provision of clean water, clean air, adequate food and shelter, many indexes also measure more subjective elements including a city's capacity to generate a sense of community and offer hospitable settings for all, especially young people, to develop social skills, a sense of autonomy and identity. The reason some cities appear in one ranking but not another is often related to the different criteria used between rankings, but more commonly it is related the difference in weighting given to similar factors.

Global Liveability Index

Monocle's Quality of Life Survey

Since 2006, the lifestyle magazine ''

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'' has published an annual list of livable cities. The list in 2008 was named "The Most Livable Cities Index" and presented 20 top locations for

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

. Important criteria in this survey are safety/crime, international connectivity, climate/sunshine, quality of architecture, public transport, tolerance, environmental issues and access to nature, urban design, business conditions, proactive policy developments and medical care.

Mercer's Quality of Living Ranking

American global

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and related

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

consulting firm Mercer annually releases its Mercer Quality of Living Survey, comparing 221 cities based on 39 criteria. New York City is given a baseline score of 100 and other cities are rated in comparison. Important criteria are

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, environment,

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for happiness, enjoyment, amusement, ...

, political-economic stability,

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

and access to goods and services. The list is intended to help

multinational companies A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

decide where to open offices or plants and how much to pay employees. The full ranking includes 241 cities.

Movingto Global Liveability Index

This index uses data to score stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. The results are combined into a final livability index.

Numbeo's Quality of Life Ranking

Numbeo Numbeo is a Serbian crowd-sourced online database of perceived consumer prices, real property prices, and quality of life metrics. The website was founded in April 2009 by former Google employee Mladen Adamović, to enable users to share and ...

is a

crowd-sourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

global database of reported consumer prices, perceived

crime rate In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

s, quality of

, among other statistics. The rankings are updated twice per year. The full ranking includes 242 cities.

Happy City Index

The Happy City Index produced by the Institute for Quality of Life uses 23 different areas of activity, divided into five key categories to determine the overall sense of happiness among residents directly relating to their quality of life. The ranking includes all cities whose activities can be measured based on objective, transparent, and verifiable data. It also highlights cities that demonstrate exceptional achievements in terms of quality of life.

IMD's Smart City Index

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-based

International Institute for Management Development International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is an independent academic institute with campuses in Lausanne, Switzerland and Singapore. IMD is known for its executive education and its proximity to business. In 2024, it named David B ...

(IMD) publishes the Smart City Index, ranking what makes a city the most livable. Zurich, Oslo, Geneva, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi form the top 5 in 2025.

References

{{Population Cities-related lists of superlatives International quality of life rankings Lists of cities Market research Quality of life The Economist