--- title: The World's Best City to Live In Depends on Which Index You Read description: The Hague has led Numbeo's Quality of Life Index since 2023, with a score of 230.1 in 2026. What the index measures, and why a rival ranking puts Copenhagen first. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-07-26T10:06:33.210Z updated: 2026-07-26T10:06:33.219Z canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/the-hague-quality-of-life-2026 image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/the-hague-quality-of-life-37061.webp categories: Destinations content_type: News region: Netherlands publication: Rich Travel Magazine schema_type: Article --- The Hague has held first place on Numbeo's Quality of Life Index for four years running, and its score has risen from 217.1 in 2023 to 230.1 in the 2026 edition. Utrecht, Eindhoven, Groningen and Rotterdam follow it in the same release, and six Dutch cities sit in the global top ten. A different list of the world's most liveable cities, [reported by BBC Travel in July](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260706-the-worlds-most-liveable-cities-in-2026), puts Copenhagen, Vienna, Zurich, Sydney and Melbourne at the top, and Dutch cities do not appear near the front of it. The two rankings cover the same year and disagree about where in the world to live. Which of them to read depends on what goes into the score. Numbeo describes itself as the world's largest cost of living database, and its figures come from residents who submit them rather than from a panel of assessors, according to [the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency's account of this year's results](https://investinholland.com/news/netherlands-lands-top-spot-in-numbeo-quality-of-life-index-2026/). Its Quality of Life Index folds purchasing power, healthcare, safety, cost of living, housing affordability, commuting times, pollution and climate into a single number rather than ranking cities on any one of them. A city that is affordable against local wages, safe, and quick to cross will do well on that formula. ## What Numbeo's Quality of Life Index Measures The same agency write-up credits Dutch cities with strong scores on safety, cost of living and access to healthcare, three of the components that feed the total, and notes that Amsterdam placed in the global top ten alongside The Hague. The Hague's run is a long one by the standards of a list that moves each year: first in 2023, 2024, 2025 and again in 2026, with the score climbing 13 points across those four editions. Nur Icar, the alderman for work, income and sport, tied the result to what the city has been aiming at. > "It reflects the combination of qualities that The Hague aims for: a safe, accessible, and liveable city where international organisations, businesses, knowledge institutions, and residents can thrive together." > — Nur Icar, alderman for work, income and sport ## Why Two Liveability Rankings Disagree Numbeo's data comes from the people living in the cities it ranks, and much of it is about money: what rent takes out of a salary, what groceries and transport cost, how far a median wage goes. A ranking assembled that way rewards cities that are affordable against local pay, which is where the Dutch entries gain. The list BBC Travel covered reaches a different top five from the same year, so the two are not interchangeable. Someone comparing rent against take-home pay is asking Numbeo's question. Someone choosing a city for its institutions or its long-term stability is asking a different one, and a crowdsourced cost of living index does not answer that. Neither list accounts for visas, tax residency, or whether the job exists at the other end of the move. What Numbeo's version offers is narrower than the name on it: a like-for-like comparison of what daily life costs against what local work pays, in cities the reader has probably never lived in, assembled from the people who do. ## What Living in The Hague Looks Like Away from the scores, the city is small. Government bodies, international organisations and knowledge institutions cluster in the centre, with residential streets, cultural venues and green space around them, and 11 kilometres of coastline, beaches and dunes inside the same city limits. The trip from an office near the institutions to open sand is a short one rather than a day out. Commuting time, pollution and climate sit in Numbeo's formula alongside purchasing power and housing costs, so a compact city with its own coast is scoring on geography as well as on price. ## FAQ **Q: What is so special about The Hague?** Its institutional base and its coast in the same compact city: government bodies, international organisations and knowledge institutions in the centre, 11 kilometres of coastline with beaches and dunes inside the city limits, and first place on Numbeo's Quality of Life Index in each of the past four years. **Q: Is Numbeo a reliable source for city rankings?** It is an established index, described by the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency as the world's largest cost of living database, and its figures come from residents who submit them rather than from a panel of assessors. That makes it strongest on prices, rents and wages. It is also not the only liveability ranking: the list BBC Travel covered in July has a different top five, so Numbeo reads best as one measure among several. **Q: Is The Hague a wealthy area?** Its position in this ranking is not a measure of wealth. Purchasing power and housing affordability are two of Numbeo's components, and both weigh costs against local incomes rather than measuring how rich a place is. A city can lead the index by being affordable against what people earn there, which is where Dutch cities do well, without being the highest-earning city in the country.