What does it truly mean to live well? It’s a question that goes far beyond salary figures and GDP growth.
At CS Global Partners, we set out to answer it with rigour and data, combining the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI) with the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) from Yale and Columbia Universities to produce our Good Life Index
Together this leads to a composite score that captures not just economic prosperity, but the broader conditions that allow people to genuinely thrive.
The results reveal a world of striking contrasts and some surprising conclusions.
The World’s Best Places to Live
Norway and Germany share the top ranking, both scoring 89.9, followed closely by Switzerland (89.5), Finland (89.1), and Sweden (89.0).
The full top ten includes the United Kingdom (5th, 88.7), Denmark and Luxembourg (tied 6th, 88.3), Hong Kong and Monaco (tied 7th, 88.1), Iceland (8th, 88.0), Ireland and the Netherlands (tied 9th, 87.7), and Belgium (10th, 87.4), nations that consistently demonstrate a rare alignment between human development and environmental responsibility. What these countries share is telling.
Strong public institutions, universal healthcare, world-class education, and meaningful investment in sustainability all feature prominently. So does social trust – a factor increasingly linked to well-being, economic resilience, and civic life.
Norway deserves special mention. Beyond its exceptional data – a life expectancy of 83.6 years, one of the world’s highest GDP per capita, and a 7th-place ranking in the 2025 Environmental Performance Index – it is a society built around balance.
A standard 37.5-hour working week, five-plus weeks of annual leave, affordable childcare, and the cultural embrace of friluftsliv (outdoor life) combine to create something the numbers alone can’t fully capture: a population that is, by most measures, among the most contented on earth.
The Quiet Decline of the United States
Perhaps the most striking finding in the index is the United States’ placement at rank 20, with a score of 83.8, teetering on the edge of the world’s top performers and at serious risk of falling further behind.
For a nation long synonymous with opportunity, this ranking demands reflection, not merely for where America stands today, but for the trajectory it is following. The pressures are well-documented: persistent affordability challenges in housing, healthcare, and energy; wages that have failed to keep pace with costs; and medical premiums that have surged over 300% in recent decades.
The social picture adds further weight; the USA fell to 24th in the 2025 World Happiness Report, its lowest ever, with young people faring particularly poorly amid rising loneliness and declining interpersonal trust.
On the environmental front, the USA trails significantly behind Scandinavian and Western European leaders, a drag on its composite score that reflects broader gaps in equity, sustainability, and long-term thinking.
The USA retains genuine strengths in education and innovation. But the composite picture suggests a society where the promise of the good life is increasingly unevenly distributed, and where the gaps are widening rather than closing.
South Africa: Beauty and Complexity
At rank 89 with a score of 64.5, South Africa tells one of the most fascinating quality-of-life stories in the index.
The country offers extraordinary natural beauty, a vibrant cultural identity, world-class leisure in cities like Cape Town, and a cost of living that compares favourably with Western nations. It is little surprise that expatriates and returning South Africans alike cite lifestyle as a primary draw.
Yet persistent challenges – unemployment between 32% and 42%, elevated crime, and sluggish economic growth – weigh heavily on the overall score.
South Africa’s 64.5 captures this duality precisely: a nation of immense potential, where the fruits of that potential are not yet equally shared.
What the Data Tells Us
The full index spans 188 countries, from Norway’s 89.9 to Somalia’s 38.0. That gap is not merely statistical; it represents profoundly different human realities, shaped by decades of policy choices, governance, and investment (or the absence of it) in the conditions that allow people to flourish.
The consistent lesson across the index is that a truly good life cannot be reduced to economic output alone. The societies that score highest are those that have found ways to integrate health, education, environmental stewardship, and social cohesion into a shared vision of prosperity.
For those with the ability to choose where to build their lives, the Good Life Index offers a rigorous, data-driven foundation for that decision. Countries like Malta (14th, 85.4), Portugal (29th, 81.0), and Saint Kitts and Nevis (39th, 75.7) offer compelling combinations of stability, quality of life, and investment-linked pathways to residency or citizenship – not just lifestyle advantages, but genuine security for the next generation.
The good life is out there. With the right guidance, it is within reach.
To explore citizenship and residency options tailored to your goals, contact the CS Global Partners team today.