Youth Perspectives

Which nationalities have the best quality of life?

The TV tower at Alexanderplatz square during sunset in Berlin, November 2, 2014.

A new ranking looks at the quality of life of different nationalities. Image: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Chloe Pantazi
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The British immigration and citizenship firm Henley & Partners has released a new ranking of nationalities to show which have the best and worst quality of living globally.

The Quality of Nationality Index ranked 161 nationalities by looking at the strength of each country's economy, health, education, standard of living, and level of peace and stability. The report differentiates nationality from country by considering how easy it is for citizens to travel without a visa and live and work abroad.

Based on these factors, each nationality was issued with a score between 0% - 100%. The higher the score, the better the quality of living.

At number one, Germans have the world's top nationality with a score of 83.1%, rated highly for their ability to live and work abroad easily and travel to a large number of countries without a visa; Germans hold the strongest passport with visa-free access to 177 countries, according to Henley & Partners' Visa Restrictions Index.

Danish nationals enjoy the second best quality of life with a score of 83%, followed by the Finnish, who have a score of 82%.

It's no surprise that European nations rank highly. Countries within the European Union have performed well largely thanks to the EU's Freedom Settlement, which allows EU citizens to move, work, and vote in other EU member countries freely, according to a press release from Henley & Partners.

The company created the QNI index with the law professor Dr. Dimitry Kochenov, combining data from the World Bank, Air Transport Association, the Institute for Economics and Peace with its own research to determine the results.

Here are the 41 nationalities deemed to have the highest quality of life, along with the score for each. (Note, some nations are tied.)

37. Argentina — 50.4%

36. South Korea — 50.8%

35. Singapore — 51.9%

34. Chile — 52.3%

33. Australia — 52.5%

32. Canada — 52.7%

31. New Zealand — 53.4%

30. Japan — 56.2%

29. Croatia — 58.3%

28. US — 63.5%

27. Bulgaria — 72.4%

26. Romania — 72.6%

25. Cyprus — 73.4%

24. Latvia — 76%

23. Lithuania — 76.2%

22. Malta — 76.4%

21. Greece — 76.5%

20. Poland — 76.7%

20. Estonia — 76.7%

19. Slovakia — 77.9%

18. Hungary — 78%

17. Slovenia — 78.8%

16. Portugal — 78.9%

15. Czech Republic — 79.1%

14. Luxembourg — 79.3%

13. Spain — 79.8%

13. Italy — 79.8%

12. Liechtenstein — 80%

11. UK — 80.1%

10. Belgium — 80.2%

9. Netherlands — 80.3%

8. Switzerland — 80.7%

7. France — 80.9%

6. Austria — 81%

6. Ireland — 81%

5. Iceland — 81.6%

5. Sweden — 81.6%

4. Norway — 81.7%

3. Finland — 82%

2. Denmark — 83%

1. Germany — 83.1%

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