The World’s Best Countries For Quality of Life, 2021

Finland has been named as the #1 country in the world in 2021 for Quality of Life, according to the CEOWORLD magazine 2021 report, while Denmark and Norway placed second and third, respectively. The 2021 rankings placed Belgium in fourth ahead of Sweden into fifth; while Switzerland ranked sixth and the Netherlands seventh. Syria is in the last place behind Sudan, Montserrat, North Korea, and Comoros.

The rankings measure global perceptions of 165 nations chosen because they contribute most to the world’s GDP. More than 258,000 people around the world are asked to evaluate the countries based on 10 metrics ranging from stability to transparency to equality. Overall, among the top 10 best countries in the world for the best quality of life, the eighth, ninth, and tenth positions are held by France, Germany, and Japan.

Being safe, politically stable, and having a well-developed public health system drove Finland’s quality of life ranking to the top of the Best Countries 2021 list.

The World's Best Countries For Quality of Life, 2021

Detailed findings & methodology: In order to determine the rankings, researchers at the CEOWORLD magazine analyzed and compared 165 countries across 10 key categories: Affordability, Economic stability, Family-friendly, A good job market, Income equality, political neutrality & stability, Safety, cultural influence, Well-developed public education system, and Well-developed public health system. Each attribute was graded on a 100-point scale.

Raw data for countries were normalized on a 1-100 scale according to the following: Each individual indicator was given equal weighting within each of ten categories with some indicators being comprised of 2-3 sub-indicators that were also weighted equally. Each category was weighted equally to arrive at the overall index.

Sources: CEOWORLD magazine put together a panel of experts to go over data points culled from sources like the EIU Index, World Economic Forum, Global Insight, the Global Gender Gap Index, Gini, and Gender Gap index, The Legatum Prosperity Index, Transparency International, Environmental Performance Index, Better Life Index, CIA World Factbook, World Bank, UNDP Annual Report, as well as CEOWORLD magazine research. They then used that information to compare the world’s countries for its citizens and residents. Based on a consensus from these sources, the final choice of cities was judged editorially, as was their position on the list. All data is for the most recent period available.