Best Countries for Families

Macau ranks #1 with a composite score of 89.9.

Top 5 Ranked

Macau

89.9

Malta

87.4

Estonia

87.0

4 Costa Rica

5 Saudi Arabia

Macau

89.9

Malta

87.4

Estonia

87.0

4 Costa Rica 86.8

5 Saudi Arabia 86.6

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	Macau	89.9	4.6	85.0	6.3%	97.1%	100.0%	100.0%
2	Malta	87.4	4.5	83.2	5.9%	94.9%	100.0%	100.0%
3	Estonia	87.0	3.4	77.9	6.6%	99.9%	99.6%	100.0%
4	Costa Rica	86.8	8.4	79.6	6.7%	98.0%	100.0%	100.0%
5	Saudi Arabia	86.6	12.3	76.7	7.8%	97.6%	100.0%	100.0%
6	Kuwait	86.2	7.4	79.1	6.6%	96.5%	100.0%	100.0%
7	Cyprus	85.7	8.4	79.7	6.1%	99.4%	99.8%	100.0%
8	South Korea	85.4	2.9	83.0	4.7%	98.0%	99.9%	100.0%
9	Spain	85.1	2.5	82.6	4.6%	98.6%	99.9%	100.0%
10	Portugal	84.9	2.5	81.5	5.0%	95.9%	99.9%	100.0%
11	Tonga	84.5	12.4	77.5	6.6%	99.4%	99.6%	100.0%
12	Chile	84.5	6.6	79.8	5.6%	97.0%	100.0%	100.0%
13	Italy	84.4	3.2	82.6	4.3%	99.2%	99.9%	100.0%
14	Poland	84.1	4.2	78.8	5.2%	99.8%	100.0%	100.0%
15	Latvia	84.0	4.9	75.9	6.0%	99.9%	99.5%	100.0%
16	Greece	83.6	3.6	81.5	4.4%	97.9%	100.0%	100.0%
17	Singapore	83.1	1.6	86.4	2.8%	97.5%	100.0%	100.0%
18	Croatia	82.7	8.7	77.2	5.5%	99.4%	100.0%	100.0%
19	Tunisia	82.4	11.9	76.8	7.3%	82.7%	99.2%	100.0%
20	San Marino	82.3	6.5	83.9	3.4%	99.9%	100.0%	100.0%
21	Hungary	81.9	4.6	77.2	4.8%	99.1%	100.0%	100.0%
22	Andorra	81.6	3.4	83.4	2.9%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
23	Uruguay	81.2	8.3	78.4	4.6%	98.8%	100.0%	100.0%
24	United Arab Emirates	80.9	5.1	79.6	3.9%	98.1%	100.0%	100.0%
25	Brazil	80.9	13.3	75.9	6.0%	94.7%	99.4%	100.0%
26	Ukraine	80.5	7.3	73.5	5.4%	100.0%	99.6%	100.0%
27	Belarus	80.4	3.3	74.3	4.7%	99.9%	99.9%	100.0%
28	Algeria	80.3	19.7	78.0	7.0%	81.4%	99.4%	100.0%
29	Puerto Rico	80.0	6.0	81.7	3.6%	92.4%	100.0%	100.0%
30	Oman	80.0	14.5	76.9	5.4%	95.7%	99.7%	100.0%
31	Brunei	79.9	10.5	78.4	4.4%	97.6%	99.9%	100.0%
32	Moldova	79.5	11.6	72.4	6.4%	99.6%	92.1%	100.0%
33	Cabo Verde	79.2	23.5	73.8	7.6%	90.8%	96.7%	97.1%
34	Seychelles	79.2	10.6	76.1	5.2%	95.9%	96.2%	100.0%
35	Lithuania	79.0	3.6	75.8	4.0%	99.8%	98.0%	100.0%
36	Fiji	78.8	10.1	74.3	5.7%	99.1%	94.3%	92.0%
37	Maldives	78.7	25.7	76.9	5.8%	97.9%	99.6%	100.0%
38	Honduras	78.3	15.1	75.2	6.4%	88.5%	96.1%	94.4%
39	Romania	78.0	5.8	75.8	3.7%	98.9%	100.0%	100.0%
40	Qatar	77.9	6.6	79.8	3.2%	93.5%	99.6%	100.0%
41	Bulgaria	77.8	8.0	75.6	4.0%	98.4%	99.0%	100.0%
42	Colombia	77.8	11.7	74.9	4.9%	95.6%	97.7%	100.0%
43	Uzbekistan	77.7	19.0	75.3	5.1%	100.0%	97.8%	100.0%
44	Mauritius	77.5	12.1	74.9	4.9%	92.2%	99.9%	100.0%
45	Malaysia	77.2	6.6	76.1	3.9%	95.0%	97.5%	100.0%
46	Samoa	77.1	17.0	75.2	4.8%	99.1%	98.4%	98.3%
47	Serbia	77.1	4.8	74.2	3.6%	99.5%	99.5%	100.0%
48	Thailand	76.9	6.5	77.7	3.2%	94.1%	100.0%	99.9%
49	Albania	76.9	10.8	79.5	3.1%	98.4%	97.0%	100.0%
50	China	76.2	6.8	76.1	3.6%	96.8%	95.1%	100.0%
51	Georgia	76.2	14.8	77.5	3.6%	99.6%	97.3%	100.0%
52	Kyrgyzstan	75.8	25.7	72.4	6.2%	99.6%	93.6%	99.7%
53	Bahrain	75.6	10.2	79.9	2.2%	97.5%	100.0%	100.0%
54	Russia	75.5	6.4	72.4	3.7%	99.7%	97.6%	100.0%
55	Vietnam	75.4	14.8	75.5	4.1%	95.8%	96.9%	100.0%
56	Mexico	75.1	11.9	72.3	4.3%	95.2%	99.7%	100.0%
57	Panama	75.0	16.4	77.6	3.9%	95.7%	96.2%	95.0%
58	El Salvador	74.8	12.1	75.4	4.1%	89.1%	98.2%	100.0%
59	Armenia	74.8	12.2	76.1	2.8%	99.8%	100.0%	100.0%
60	Jordan	74.7	13.9	76.0	3.2%	98.4%	99.1%	100.0%
61	Kazakhstan	74.4	19.2	72.5	4.5%	99.8%	97.4%	100.0%
62	Morocco	74.2	19.2	73.7	6.8%	75.9%	91.0%	100.0%
63	Ecuador	74.1	18.1	77.5	3.7%	93.9%	95.4%	100.0%
64	Lebanon	74.0	7.0	78.8	1.7%	95.1%	100.0%	100.0%
65	Azerbaijan	73.8	23.5	74.2	4.3%	99.8%	97.1%	100.0%
66	Turkey	73.6	19.4	76.2	3.4%	96.7%	99.0%	100.0%
67	Paraguay	73.6	23.2	78.4	3.3%	94.5%	100.0%	100.0%
68	Iran	73.1	14.8	75.3	3.6%	88.7%	99.4%	100.0%
69	Dominican Republic	73.0	21.2	72.6	4.6%	95.5%	97.2%	98.1%
70	Bhutan	73.0	27.0	72.3	7.0%	70.9%	99.8%	100.0%
71	Namibia	72.7	29.4	66.5	9.6%	92.3%	91.4%	56.2%
72	Suriname	72.1	30.3	72.4	5.0%	95.0%	99.1%	99.0%
73	Mongolia	71.5	20.2	71.4	4.7%	99.2%	87.6%	100.0%
74	Sri Lanka	71.2	8.2	77.5	1.9%	92.3%	92.8%	100.0%
75	South Africa	70.7	25.9	65.3	6.6%	95.0%	96.7%	86.5%
76	Peru	70.7	10.8	68.9	4.0%	94.5%	94.0%	96.2%
77	Indonesia	70.4	19.7	73.1	3.5%	96.0%	93.3%	100.0%
78	Guyana	70.1	22.2	71.9	4.5%	88.8%	96.8%	93.0%
79	Philippines	68.8	22.2	70.1	3.7%	96.3%	97.0%	94.8%
80	Venezuela	66.3	17.7	73.3	1.3%	97.5%	94.2%	100.0%
81	Egypt	66.1	17.7	74.5	2.5%	73.1%	99.7%	100.0%
82	Guatemala	65.5	26.2	72.9	3.1%	83.3%	95.0%	99.1%
83	Iraq	65.4	19.6	73.2	4.7%	50.1%	99.3%	100.0%
84	Vanuatu	65.1	14.3	75.1	2.3%	89.1%	92.3%	70.0%
85	Nepal	64.5	25.1	72.4	4.2%	71.2%	94.1%	91.3%
86	Sao Tome and Principe	62.9	44.4	67.1	5.0%	94.8%	98.5%	78.0%
87	India	62.7	30.3	67.2	4.5%	74.4%	95.5%	99.2%
88	Gabon	62.6	28.6	69.7	3.2%	85.5%	93.1%	93.5%
89	Bangladesh	62.4	30.4	74.7	2.1%	74.9%	98.9%	99.4%
90	Ghana	60.7	32.6	69.4	3.9%	79.0%	92.4%	85.1%
91	Cambodia	60.4	29.6	70.7	3.1%	83.9%	85.1%	92.3%
92	Timor-Leste	59.7	33.7	69.9	4.2%	68.1%	87.4%	99.7%
93	Kenya	59.1	27.9	69.7	4.8%	82.6%	71.2%	76.0%
94	Laos	57.3	37.8	68.2	2.3%	87.1%	88.8%	100.0%
95	Senegal	57.2	32.4	70.0	5.5%	56.3%	87.3%	67.9%
96	Lesotho	56.7	48.4	59.6	8.7%	81.0%	82.6%	50.0%
97	Burma	55.8	32.9	69.9	2.1%	89.1%	85.3%	73.7%
98	Swaziland	54.6	39.6	59.7	5.0%	88.4%	80.3%	82.3%
99	Rwanda	53.1	26.4	65.9	3.8%	75.9%	82.7%	50.6%
100	Zimbabwe	52.0	28.5	63.3	3.6%	89.7%	76.9%	50.1%
101	Uganda	51.7	30.5	69.0	2.7%	79.0%	83.1%	47.1%
102	Tanzania	50.4	36.4	70.2	3.3%	81.8%	72.0%	45.8%
103	Togo	50.3	41.2	71.4	4.0%	66.5%	74.6%	57.2%
104	Zambia	49.9	37.1	66.3	3.7%	86.7%	71.6%	47.8%
105	Malawi	49.5	33.4	72.4	2.9%	67.3%	92.0%	14.0%
106	Burundi	49.2	37.8	67.4	5.0%	74.7%	81.6%	10.3%
107	Pakistan	49.2	54.0	69.7	2.4%	58.0%	94.0%	95.0%
108	Gambia	48.7	37.2	67.6	2.8%	58.1%	89.5%	65.4%
109	Republic of the Congo	48.6	47.9	62.1	4.5%	80.6%	84.2%	50.6%
110	Ethiopia	48.6	33.5	68.3	4.5%	51.8%	76.4%	55.0%
111	Cote d'Ivoire	47.3	55.7	62.3	3.4%	89.9%	79.8%	70.4%
112	Cameroon	46.2	48.7	63.3	3.2%	77.1%	78.6%	71.0%
113	Madagascar	42.4	39.0	68.2	3.1%	77.3%	56.1%	36.1%
114	Mauritania	40.7	51.0	65.2	1.9%	67.0%	85.2%	49.0%
115	Sierra Leone	39.9	73.4	58.8	9.1%	48.6%	72.8%	29.4%
116	Burkina Faso	39.6	49.4	63.4	5.5%	46.0%	78.5%	19.5%
117	Haiti	39.6	40.0	66.0	1.4%	61.7%	76.5%	49.3%
118	Mozambique	38.7	61.4	57.1	6.3%	63.4%	73.3%	33.2%
119	Liberia	38.3	44.6	65.5	2.7%	48.3%	84.0%	31.8%
120	Mali	37.0	60.6	62.4	4.4%	35.5%	86.4%	53.0%
121	Guinea	36.4	49.6	63.9	2.2%	45.3%	85.2%	47.7%
122	Guinea-Bissau	35.3	49.1	63.7	2.7%	52.9%	73.1%	37.4%
123	Benin	34.5	55.8	62.2	3.0%	45.8%	74.7%	56.5%
124	Democratic Republic of the Congo	31.9	60.9	61.8	2.7%	80.0%	59.4%	21.5%
125	Niger	25.2	66.8	60.1	3.8%	37.3%	68.6%	19.5%
126	Afghanistan	19.0	104.9	53.7	2.9%	37.3%	76.5%	85.3%
127	Chad	18.0	65.5	59.2	2.9%	26.8%	60.9%	11.7%
128	Central African Republic	13.0	83.0	55.5	2.2%	37.5%	62.9%	15.7%

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%

Source: CIA World Factbook, World Bank. Rankings are based on the most recent data available. Countries must have data for all metrics to be included.

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Best Countries for Families

Top 5 Ranked

Macau

Malta

Estonia

Macau

Malta

Estonia

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