Portugal ranked 21st out of 85 countries for quality of life in the Best Countries Index 2026, a ranking produced by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and marketing group WPP. Spain is just ahead in 19th place, while Italy is 25th and the US 27th. The United States ranked last among G7 countries in this category.
As usual, the top spots go to the north: Sweden is first, followed by Denmark and Canada, then Switzerland, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany and Belgium. Twenty of the top 30 countries are European. Among European countries, Portugal ranks 15th — behind all of Northern and Western Europe, but ahead of Italy, Greece and almost all of Eastern Europe.
One important caveat: this is not a measurement but a survey. The researchers asked 15,131 people in 33 countries what they thought about safety, healthcare, education, political stability and family-friendliness in 85 countries. In other words, the ranking measures reputation rather than salaries or housing costs. And Portugal’s reputation is exactly what anyone who lives here knows: a peaceful, healthy and welcoming country where it is pleasant to live — and difficult to make a good living.
