It’s always fun to daydream about the best places to live and growing roots in a new city or country. These days, however, our “how to move abroad” searches feel a little more serious. There’s a lot of truth behind the idea that changing your address will vastly improve your life—especially if that new address comes with beaches and universal healthcare.
But before you start applying for visas, you first need to decide where you want to live. Luckily, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) just released its annual Global Liveability Index, a ranking of 172 global cities based on scores in five different categories: Stability, Healthcare, Culture & Entertainment, Education, and Infrastructure.
In the 2025 report, the average livability score for all countries is 76.1. While that matches the 2024 average, there was a slight dip in stability numbers across the board, due to factors such as civil unrest, terrorism threats, and housing crises. On the flip side, there were marginal improvements in some of the other categories thanks to global advancements in healthcare and education.
So which cities are the most livable in 2025? The top 10 winners—scattered across Western Europe, Oceania, Canada, and Japan—aren’t too different from previous years, but one city did manage to bump Vienna out of the top spot for the first time since 2021. And once again, no US cities made the cut this year. (Honolulu was the highest-rated domestic city, sitting at #23 in the rankings.)
Counting down, here are the 10 best places to live in the world.
This gallery has been updated with new information since its original publish date.
