Luxembourg has retained first place for the second year in a row in the global quality of life ranking compiled by the Deutsche Bank Research Institute.
Copenhagen took second place, and Amsterdam came in third. Vienna and Munich tied for fourth place, followed by Frankfurt, Helsinki, Geneva, Zurich, and Edinburgh.
The ranking takes into account purchasing power, safety, healthcare, cost of living, housing affordability, commute time, environmental pollution, and climate.
Cities in Western and Northern Europe dominate the top ten. At the same time, the world’s largest financial centers ranked significantly lower: Paris came in 43rd, New York 46th, London 47th, and Hong Kong 55th.
Their rankings are dragged down by expensive real estate, high living costs, long commutes, and environmental issues. Thus, high salaries alone do not guarantee a city’s leadership in quality of life.
Kyiv ranked 254th out of 304 cities in the Quality of Life Index by City 2026 ranking published by Numbeo, with an index of 118.0 points.
The Hague in the Netherlands topped the ranking with a score of 230.1, followed by other Dutch cities in the top ten, including Utrecht, Eindhoven, Groningen, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam, as well as Luxembourg, Vienna, Ghent, and Nuremberg.
At the bottom of the list are Colombo (56.1), Manila (53.2), and Lagos (0.0).
Numbeo emphasizes that the 2026 version is a “historical snapshot” and is published periodically as a snapshot of data at a specific point in time, while the “current” ranking is updated continuously.
The Numbeo Quality of Life Index is a composite indicator calculated based on sub-indices of purchasing power, safety, healthcare, cost of living, housing affordability, travel time, pollution, and climate. The index is based on data and user surveys/contributions from website visitors, with Numbeo stating that it filters out potential spam and requires a sufficient number of participants for each location; the formula uses the Math.max(0, …) restriction, which may result in outsiders being assigned a value of 0.0.
