Best Countries for Families

South Korea ranks #1 with a composite score of 84.4.

Top 5 Ranked

South Korea

84.4

Kuwait

84.2

Spain

83.8

4 San Marino

5 Italy

South Korea

84.4

Kuwait

84.2

Spain

83.8

4 San Marino 83.5

5 Italy 83.2

Overview

Nordic and Western European countries dominate this ranking thanks to low infant mortality, high education spending, and excellent infrastructure. Several East Asian countries also rank highly due to strong education systems and healthcare. Countries that invest heavily in both health and education consistently provide the best environments for families.

Global Rankings

Rank	Country	Score	Infant Mortality (per 1K)	Life Expectancy (years)	Education Spending (% GDP)	Literacy Rate (%)	Water Access (%)	Electricity Access (%)
1	South Korea	84.4	2.3	83.6	5.4%	98.0%	100.0%	100.0%
2	Kuwait	84.2	7.0	84.6	6.4%	96.5%	100.0%	100.0%
3	Spain	83.8	2.6	83.9	4.6%	99.7%	99.9%	100.0%
4	San Marino	83.5	1.2	85.8	2.9%	99.9%	100.0%	100.0%
5	Italy	83.2	2.3	84.0	4.1%	99.4%	99.9%	100.0%
6	Cuba	82.6	6.8	78.3	8.4%	99.7%	95.2%	100.0%
7	Cyprus	82.0	4.1	81.8	4.7%	99.4%	99.7%	100.0%
8	Estonia	82.0	1.5	79.3	5.2%	99.9%	100.0%	100.0%
9	Portugal	81.8	2.7	82.4	4.6%	95.9%	99.3%	100.0%
10	United Arab Emirates	81.8	3.8	83.1	3.9%	98.8%	100.0%	100.0%
11	Maldives	81.7	4.7	81.3	5.2%	97.9%	99.8%	100.0%
12	Malta	81.6	4.7	83.0	4.7%	94.9%	100.0%	100.0%
13	Macau	80.8	4.6	83.3	3.5%	97.1%	100.0%	100.0%
14	Andorra	80.8	2.4	84.2	1.9%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
15	Chile	80.7	5.8	81.4	4.9%	97.0%	99.1%	100.0%
16	Greece	80.4	3.2	81.8	3.4%	97.9%	100.0%	100.0%
17	Singapore	80.2	2.2	83.4	2.2%	97.7%	100.0%	100.0%
18	Costa Rica	80.1	9.1	81.0	5.3%	98.0%	99.8%	100.0%
19	Puerto Rico	79.4	6.0	81.9	4.3%	92.4%	100.0%	100.0%
20	Croatia	79.4	4.1	78.9	4.1%	99.4%	99.9%	100.0%
21	Qatar	79.2	4.8	82.5	3.2%	93.5%	100.0%	100.0%
22	Saudi Arabia	79.2	4.7	79.0	4.5%	97.9%	99.0%	100.0%
23	Lithuania	79.0	2.8	77.2	4.3%	99.8%	99.9%	100.0%
24	Uruguay	78.9	6.2	78.3	4.8%	98.9%	99.6%	100.0%
25	Latvia	78.7	2.2	76.4	4.3%	99.9%	98.8%	100.0%
26	Belarus	78.6	1.8	74.4	5.1%	99.9%	99.9%	100.0%
27	Poland	78.1	3.6	78.4	4.3%	99.8%	90.1%	100.0%
28	Tuvalu	78.0	16.5	67.3	12.9%	100.0%	98.7%	100.0%
29	Argentina	78.0	8.0	77.5	5.0%	99.1%	99.0%	100.0%
30	Hungary	77.9	3.1	76.7	3.8%	99.1%	100.0%	100.0%
31	Oman	77.5	8.3	80.3	4.4%	97.3%	92.7%	100.0%
32	China	77.4	4.1	78.0	3.9%	96.7%	96.1%	100.0%
33	Bulgaria	77.3	4.6	75.8	4.5%	98.4%	99.2%	100.0%
34	Bahrain	76.8	7.3	81.4	1.9%	97.8%	99.9%	100.0%
35	Bosnia and Herzegovina	76.4	5.5	78.0	3.3%	98.1%	96.1%	100.0%
36	Colombia	76.4	10.5	77.9	5.3%	95.3%	97.1%	98.7%
37	Kazakhstan	76.1	7.4	74.5	4.9%	99.8%	97.8%	100.0%
38	Albania	76.1	8.3	79.8	3.1%	97.7%	95.1%	100.0%
39	Romania	76.1	6.0	76.5	3.3%	99.2%	100.0%	100.0%
40	Tunisia	75.9	9.7	76.7	6.7%	86.3%	96.7%	100.0%
41	Ukraine	75.8	7.6	74.7	5.1%	100.0%	93.5%	100.0%
42	Serbia	75.7	4.6	76.0	3.4%	99.3%	95.4%	100.0%
43	Tonga	75.6	7.8	73.1	5.3%	99.5%	98.9%	100.0%
44	Russia	75.6	4.1	73.4	4.2%	99.9%	96.9%	100.0%
45	Brunei	75.6	8.6	75.5	4.4%	97.6%	100.0%	100.0%
46	Armenia	75.5	8.5	78.3	2.4%	99.8%	99.9%	100.0%
47	Brazil	75.4	12.3	76.0	5.6%	94.7%	100.0%	99.8%
48	Cayman Islands	75.2	7.7	80.5	1.6%	98.9%	95.5%	100.0%
49	Malaysia	75.2	7.0	76.8	3.5%	95.8%	97.9%	100.0%
50	Georgia	74.9	7.5	74.7	4.0%	99.7%	97.3%	100.0%
51	Turkey	74.7	8.0	77.4	3.1%	97.3%	96.0%	100.0%
52	Peru	74.3	11.0	77.9	4.4%	93.7%	95.6%	96.2%
53	Seychelles	73.9	12.9	76.3	4.5%	95.9%	97.7%	100.0%
54	Kyrgyzstan	73.9	14.8	72.4	6.8%	99.6%	94.9%	100.0%
55	Jordan	73.7	12.0	78.0	3.2%	94.4%	99.3%	100.0%
56	Aruba	73.5	12.1	76.5	3.6%	97.8%	96.7%	100.0%
57	Uzbekistan	73.5	12.8	72.5	5.5%	100.0%	97.3%	100.0%
58	Samoa	73.4	12.3	71.8	5.5%	99.1%	99.4%	100.0%
59	Panama	73.4	12.0	79.8	2.5%	96.2%	95.3%	97.0%
60	Algeria	73.3	19.5	76.5	9.0%	81.4%	92.4%	100.0%
61	Mexico	73.2	12.1	75.3	4.1%	95.6%	99.5%	99.7%
62	Ecuador	73.0	10.9	77.6	3.7%	93.5%	92.1%	98.7%
63	Thailand	72.9	7.7	76.6	2.5%	91.1%	100.0%	100.0%
64	Azerbaijan	72.7	12.5	74.6	3.7%	99.8%	97.7%	100.0%
65	Sri Lanka	72.5	5.2	77.7	1.8%	92.7%	90.2%	100.0%
66	Moldova	72.4	15.1	71.3	6.6%	99.6%	92.7%	100.0%
67	Iran	72.4	10.3	77.9	2.8%	88.9%	97.9%	100.0%
68	Cabo Verde	72.0	10.6	76.2	4.4%	88.5%	92.3%	98.6%
69	Bolivia	71.8	14.2	68.7	7.5%	96.7%	93.4%	99.8%
70	Mauritius	71.7	13.8	73.8	4.3%	94.3%	99.9%	100.0%
71	Mongolia	71.7	11.2	72.4	5.2%	98.6%	86.1%	100.0%
72	Vietnam	71.5	12.0	74.7	2.9%	96.1%	98.8%	99.8%
73	Belize	71.1	10.8	73.7	4.6%	87.9%	94.9%	99.6%
74	Paraguay	70.7	14.5	74.0	3.5%	94.9%	99.6%	99.8%
75	Kiribati	70.0	38.8	66.6	16.4%	98.6%	79.1%	95.9%
76	Morocco	69.7	14.7	75.5	6.0%	75.9%	92.2%	100.0%
77	Honduras	69.6	12.8	73.0	4.6%	88.3%	95.7%	95.6%
78	Suriname	69.4	14.8	73.8	2.9%	95.0%	98.0%	99.6%
79	El Salvador	69.0	8.8	72.3	3.3%	89.8%	91.6%	98.3%
80	Nauru	68.6	7.7	62.3	5.8%	96.6%	97.8%	100.0%
81	Lebanon	68.5	15.3	77.9	1.2%	92.0%	92.6%	100.0%
82	Bhutan	67.3	13.7	73.3	5.9%	64.9%	99.6%	100.0%
83	Palau	67.2	18.6	69.4	3.4%	99.8%	99.5%	100.0%
84	Marshall Islands	66.7	22.7	67.1	7.7%	95.8%	87.4%	100.0%
85	Iraq	66.7	20.1	72.4	4.7%	84.1%	98.4%	100.0%
86	Vanuatu	66.6	14.4	71.7	7.6%	88.0%	87.1%	61.6%
87	Sao Tome and Principe	66.4	9.2	69.9	5.0%	94.8%	78.0%	81.3%
88	Philippines	66.0	21.7	70.0	4.0%	98.5%	95.9%	98.0%
89	Dominican Republic	65.6	27.7	73.9	3.8%	94.0%	97.5%	99.6%
90	Guatemala	64.8	17.2	72.8	3.1%	82.1%	93.2%	100.0%
91	Turkmenistan	64.5	30.4	70.2	4.3%	99.9%	99.9%	100.0%
92	Indonesia	64.5	15.2	71.3	1.3%	96.0%	89.0%	99.4%
93	Guyana	64.4	23.2	70.3	4.5%	88.8%	95.6%	98.9%
94	Fiji	64.3	23.5	67.5	4.3%	99.1%	95.6%	99.3%
95	India	63.0	23.3	72.2	4.1%	78.2%	95.7%	99.5%
96	Venezuela	62.7	21.2	72.7	0.0%	97.5%	93.3%	100.0%
97	Bangladesh	62.5	24.4	74.9	2.0%	79.0%	98.8%	99.5%
98	Egypt	62.3	20.8	71.8	2.5%	79.5%	97.3%	100.0%
99	South Africa	61.7	24.2	66.3	6.0%	91.2%	90.2%	87.7%
100	Nepal	59.5	22.2	70.6	3.7%	71.2%	93.6%	94.0%
101	Cambodia	58.5	16.4	70.8	2.2%	71.9%	82.9%	95.0%
102	Gabon	58.0	25.9	68.5	2.3%	88.9%	88.6%	94.1%
103	Namibia	57.0	36.4	67.5	9.1%	87.6%	86.5%	56.7%
104	Laos	55.3	27.2	69.2	1.2%	75.6%	95.9%	96.5%
105	Timor-Leste	54.5	34.6	67.9	5.2%	69.4%	87.3%	100.0%
106	Ghana	53.5	27.5	65.7	2.9%	76.5%	89.9%	89.5%
107	Burma	52.7	32.8	67.1	2.0%	93.5%	85.7%	76.8%
108	Swaziland	52.1	42.2	64.3	6.0%	90.8%	80.4%	86.4%
109	Mauritania	51.8	30.2	68.7	7.6%	67.0%	77.3%	50.3%
110	Senegal	51.6	28.9	68.9	6.2%	50.4%	88.0%	74.2%
111	Comoros	50.0	35.0	67.0	2.3%	75.6%	85.1%	89.8%
112	Rwanda	49.5	29.4	68.0	4.6%	78.8%	61.4%	63.9%
113	Republic of the Congo	48.4	27.0	66.0	3.3%	80.6%	73.5%	51.3%
114	Kenya	47.2	34.2	63.8	4.0%	82.6%	65.6%	76.2%
115	Tanzania	46.1	28.7	67.2	3.2%	78.2%	64.6%	48.3%
116	Zambia	45.0	34.6	66.5	4.1%	71.8%	73.4%	51.1%
117	Gambia	43.6	32.7	66.1	2.8%	51.6%	87.1%	66.9%
118	Uganda	43.4	35.9	68.5	2.6%	77.0%	63.0%	51.5%
119	Pakistan	43.3	48.2	67.8	2.0%	58.9%	90.7%	95.6%
120	Togo	42.4	34.8	62.9	4.1%	72.6%	64.8%	59.2%
121	Cameroon	42.0	40.2	64.0	2.8%	72.6%	71.4%	72.0%
122	Angola	41.3	32.1	64.8	2.5%	68.2%	68.0%	51.1%
123	Burundi	40.2	30.5	63.8	4.5%	74.7%	65.9%	11.6%
124	Lesotho	39.8	56.3	57.8	6.6%	90.5%	78.1%	57.3%
125	Ethiopia	38.9	34.5	67.6	2.3%	60.5%	55.6%	55.4%
126	Papua New Guinea	38.5	31.3	66.3	0.8%	87.0%	53.3%	20.5%
127	Haiti	37.9	39.0	65.1	1.0%	68.0%	73.3%	51.3%
128	Malawi	37.8	38.0	67.6	2.8%	67.3%	73.1%	15.6%
129	Mozambique	37.4	43.7	63.8	6.0%	61.7%	66.6%	36.0%
130	Cote d'Ivoire	36.4	44.8	62.1	3.6%	50.0%	77.3%	72.4%
131	Afghanistan	36.4	48.3	66.3	2.9%	37.3%	80.8%	85.3%
132	Madagascar	35.4	43.0	63.8	3.1%	74.7%	55.3%	39.4%
133	Guinea-Bissau	34.5	42.1	64.3	2.7%	63.9%	61.8%	40.5%
134	Benin	32.4	45.2	61.0	3.2%	51.4%	69.6%	57.0%
135	Zimbabwe	32.1	62.4	63.1	0.4%	89.7%	67.2%	62.0%
136	Mali	31.6	47.5	60.7	4.2%	35.6%	86.4%	54.5%
137	Burkina Faso	26.7	43.6	61.3	5.3%	41.6%	50.0%	21.7%
138	Sierra Leone	25.6	54.6	62.0	2.6%	48.6%	68.1%	35.5%
139	Guinea	24.0	59.8	60.9	1.7%	45.3%	74.2%	51.1%
140	Liberia	23.6	63.2	62.3	2.3%	48.3%	78.8%	32.5%
141	Democratic Republic of the Congo	22.9	56.4	62.1	2.8%	68.5%	35.7%	22.1%
142	Nigeria	22.2	69.8	54.6	0.3%	70.4%	82.3%	61.2%
143	Somalia	20.5	65.4	59.0	0.0%	54.1%	75.3%	50.3%
144	Niger	16.4	65.6	61.4	4.1%	35.6%	53.4%	20.1%
145	Chad	11.8	56.3	55.2	3.2%	26.8%	52.2%	12.0%
146	Central African Republic	11.2	58.8	57.7	1.8%	37.5%	36.5%	17.6%

How We Score Countries for Families

Infant mortality (25%) is the strongest indicator of child healthcare quality. Life expectancy (20%) reflects the overall health environment families will experience. Education spending (20%) shows national commitment to children's futures, while literacy rate (15%) indicates educational outcomes. Water and electricity access (10% each) ensure basic living standards are met for family life.

Metric Weights

Infant Mortality 25%

Life Expectancy 20%

Education Spending 20%

Literacy Rate 15%

Water Access 10%

Electricity Access 10%

Rankings use each country's most recent figures; countries need data for every metric to be included. Sources: World Bank (2016–2025), The World Factbook (2016–2022). How we calculate this

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Best Countries for Families

Top 5 Ranked

South Korea

Kuwait

Spain

South Korea

Kuwait

Spain

Overview

Global Rankings

How We Score Countries for Families

Metric Weights

Continue Reading

Best Countries for Digital Nomads

Best Countries to Retire

Best Countries for Healthcare

Cheapest Countries to Live In