Quality-of-life index Information & Quality-of-life index Links at HealthHaven.com

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index is based on a unique methodology that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the objective determinants of quality of life across countries. The index was calculated in 2005 and includes data from 111 countries and territories.

[edit] Methodology

The survey uses nine quality of life factors to determine a nation's score^[1]. They are listed below including the indicators used to represent these factors:

Health: Life expectancy at birth (in years). Source: US Census Bureau
Family life: Divorce rate (per 1,000 population), converted into index of 1 (lowest divorce rates) to 5 (highest). Sources: UN; Euromonitor
Community life: Variable taking value 1 if country has either high rate of church attendance or trade-union membership; zero otherwise. Source: World Values Survey
Material well being: GDP per person, at PPP in $. Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Political stability and security: Political stability and security ratings. Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Climate and geography: Latitude, to distinguish between warmer and colder climates. Source: CIA World Factbook
Job security: Unemployment rate (%.) Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Political freedom: Average of indexes of political and civil liberties. Scale of 1 (completely free) to 7 (unfree). Source: Freedom House
Gender equality: Measured using ratio of average male and female earnings. Source: UNDP Human Development Report

[edit] The Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index, 2005

World map showing the Quality of Life Scores 8.000 - 8.999 7.000 - 7.999 6.000 - 6.999 5.000 - 5.999 4.000 - 4.999 3.000 - 3.999 No Data

111 countries and territories were included in the 2005 Quality of Life Index.^[1]

Rank	Country or territory	Quality of Life Score (out of 10)
1	Ireland	8.333
2	Switzerland	8.068
3	Norway	8.051
4	Luxembourg	8.015
5	Sweden	7.937
6	Australia	7.925
7	Iceland	7.911
8	Italy	7.810
9	Denmark	7.797
10	Spain	7.727
11	Singapore	7.719
12	Finland	7.618
13	United States	7.615
14	Canada	7.599
15	New Zealand	7.436
16	Netherlands	7.433
17	Japan	7.392
18	Hong Kong	7.347
19	Portugal	7.307
20	Austria	7.268
21	Taiwan	7.259
22	Greece	7.163
23	Cyprus	7.097
24	Belgium	7.095
25	France	7.084
26	Germany	7.048
27	Slovenia	6.986
28	Malta	6.934
29	United Kingdom	6.917
30	South Korea	6.877
31	Chile	6.789
32	Mexico	6.766
33	Barbados	6.702
34	Czech Republic	6.629
35	Costa Rica	6.624
36	Malaysia	6.608
37	Hungary	6.534
38	Israel	6.488
39	Brazil	6.470
40	Argentina	6.469
41	Qatar	6.462
42	Thailand	6.436
43	Sri Lanka	6.417
44	Philippines	6.403
45	Slovakia	6.381
46	Uruguay	6.368
47	Panama	6.361
48	Poland	6.309
49	Croatia	6.301
50	Turkey	6.286
51	Trinidad and Tobago	6.278
52	Ecuador	6.272
53	Peru	6.216
54	Colombia	6.176
55	Kuwait	6.171
56	El Salvador	6.164
57	Bulgaria	6.162
58	Romania	6.105
59	Venezuela	6.089
60	China	6.083
61	Vietnam	6.080
62	Bahrain	6.035
63	Lithuania	6.033
64	Jamaica	6.022
65	Morocco	6.018
66	Latvia	6.008
67	Oman	5.916
68	Estonia	5.905
69	United Arab Emirates	5.899
70	Libya	5.849
71	Indonesia	5.814
72	Saudi Arabia	5.767
73	India	5.759
74	Paraguay	5.756
75	Jordan	5.675
76	Nicaragua	5.663
77	Bangladesh	5.646
78	Albania	5.634
79	Dominican Republic	5.630
80	Egypt	5.605
81	Algeria	5.571
82	Bolivia	5.492
83	Tunisia	5.472
84	Serbia	5.428
85	Armenia	5.422
86	Azerbaijan	5.377
87	Georgia	5.365
88	Iran	5.343
89	Macedonia	5.337
90	Guatemala	5.321
91	Honduras	5.250
92	South Africa	5.245
93	Pakistan	5.229
94	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.218
95	Ghana	5.174
96	Kazakhstan	5.082
97	Syria	5.052
98	Ukraine	5.032
99	Moldova	5.009
100	Belarus	4.978
101	Uganda	4.879
102	Turkmenistan	4.870
103	Kyrgyzstan	4.846
104	Botswana	4.810
105	Russia	4.796
106	Uzbekistan	4.767
107	Tajikistan	4.754
108	Nigeria	4.505
109	Tanzania	4.495
110	Haiti	4.090
111	Zimbabwe	3.892

[edit] Countries not listed

Many countries/territories, including most of the Least Developed Countries, are omitted from this ranking as there is insufficient data to produce a viable rank. Also not included are the European microstate countries, which would presumably rank highly if included.