Best Countries to Live in Europe? All 27 EU Countries Ranked on 6 Official Tests (2026)

Which is the best country to live in Europe? We put all 27 EU countries through six official tests with Eurostat's latest data: living standards, jobs, housing costs, safety, health and happiness. Living standards (actual individual consumption per person, 2025, EU = 100): Luxembourg 145, Germany 120, Hungary and Latvia 73. Unemployment (August 2026): Czechia 3.2%, Spain 10.0%. Housing cost overburden (2025): Cyprus 2.4%, Greece 26.4% (no 2025 figure for Denmark). Crime, violence or vandalism in the area (2023, the latest survey): Croatia 1.4%, Greece 20.9%. Life expectancy (2024): Spain 84.0, Bulgaria 75.8. Life satisfaction (2025, 0-10): Romania and Finland 7.8, Bulgaria 6.3. The verdict counts best-three and worst-three places, ties included, and each country's average place across the tests: Poland is in the best three in 3 of 6 tests (jobs, safety and life satisfaction; Eurostat flags Poland's life satisfaction figure as low reliability) and has the best average place, ahead of Slovenia and Cyprus. Greece, Bulgaria and Latvia are in the worst three in 3 of 6 tests each. Where would you rather live, and why? Tell me in the comments. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:47 Living standards 02:21 Jobs 04:00 Housing costs 05:50 Safety 07:44 Health 09:36 Happiness 10:57 The verdict Sources: Intro: Eurostat prc_ppp_ind_1 (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Living standards: Eurostat prc_ppp_ind_1 (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Jobs: Eurostat une_rt_m (August 2026) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Housing costs: Eurostat ilc_lvho07a (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Safety: Eurostat ilc_mddw03 (2023) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Health: Eurostat demo_mlexpec (2024) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Happiness: Eurostat ilc_pw01 (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... The verdict: Eurostat prc_ppp_ind_1 (2025) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databro... Context: Eurostat: actual individual consumption is better adapted than GDP to describe the material welfare of households (Statistics Explained, data from 17 June 2026): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist... Housing cost overburden rate: share of people in households whose housing costs (rent for tenants, mortgage interest for owners, plus utilities such as water, electricity, gas and heating) exceed 40% of disposable income (Eurostat glossary): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statist... #europe #eurostat #maps