The 10 happiest cities in the world by 2025, What Makes a city happy? On top of personal relationships with friends and family, the environment, governance and infrastructure of a city influence the general well being. The most joyous cities are the ones that help to raise its citizens and appeal to outsiders.
The index, administered by the London based organisation Institute of Quality of Life, ranks 200 cities on 82 indicators in six broad categories such as governance, environment, economy, mobility and citizens which also includes such indicators as education and access to cultural institutions. The sixth category, the first to be added to the list in 2025, is about the theme of health, which has indicators of mental health, safety, nutrition, and work-life balance.
On these grounds, the cities are ranked on three lists: gold, silver and bronze. The gold cities are the top 31 happiest cities. The gold list of cities of the regions of the world employed in 2025 includes Europe, Asia, North America, and the South Pacific.
Writers of the report understand that happiness may be a moving goal. The report states that there is no ideal location to live in that can make everyone happy. Nevertheless, there are very wise cities that use urban policies and never stop analysing their efficiency, and it is evident in the data they bring.
The following is the list of the five happiest cities globally that will be in 2025 as per the Happiest Cities Index. To more, they are the most happy nations worldwide.
Again predictably, Denmark tops the list. According to the Happy City Index of Institute of Quality of Life, Copenhagen is the happiest city in the world in 2025 with the total mark of 1,039 points.
This made the city perform highly in terms of environmental performance (192) and high citizen engagement (237).
Another Danish city called Aarhus took the 4th place with the high citizen score (233), strong governance (173), and environmental efforts (170).
The leading cities in the list are European cities, with the highest citizen engagement overall at Antwerp (Belgium) (ranked number 5), and Stockholm (Sweden) (ranked number 7) leading in citizen participation with 270.
Munich (Germany) and Rotterdam (Netherlands) also managed to get in the top 10.
There are Asian representations in Singapore (#3), Seoul (#6) and Taipei (#8). The city of Taipei is the only city out of the top 10 leaders in governance.
None of the cities in the United States, the United Kingdom or China was in the top 10, but they are highly ranked in the Global 200.
New York City ranks highest at position 17 as compared to the US, London is the highest ranking city in the UK and Beijing is the highest ranking city in China.
Amazingly, none of the Indian cities are listed in the position of the happiest cities.
#2025 Happy City Index: Top 10 happiest cities in the world
| Rank | City, Country | Total Score | Citizens | Governance | Environment | Economy | Health | Mobility |
| 1 | Copenhagen, Denmark | 1039 | 237 | 177 | 192 | 182 | 149 | 101 |
| 2 | Zurich, Switzerland | 993 | 256 | 185 | 175 | 174 | 122 | 80 |
| 3 | Singapore, Singapore | 979 | 210 | 192 | 151 | 174 | 149 | 101 |
| 4 | Aarhus, Denmark | 958 | 233 | 173 | 170 | 143 | 145 | 95 |
| 5 | Antwerp, Belgium | 956 | 258 | 205 | 148 | 100 | 145 | 100 |
| 6 | Seoul, South Korea | 942 | 260 | 206 | 153 | 100 | 117 | 106 |
| 7 | Stockholm, Sweden | 941 | 270 | 183 | 143 | 111 | 136 | 98 |
| 8 | Taipei, Taiwan | 936 | 158 | 210 | 192 | 126 | 120 | 131 |
| 9 | Munich, Germany | 931 | 250 | 175 | 114 | 110 | 176 | 105 |
| 10 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | 920 | 192 | 166 | 188 | 65 | 176 | 106 |
Source and Methodology: Institute for Quality Life: #2025 Happy City Index | The Institute for Quality of Life, via the Happy City Index, analyses these cities, considering six main themes: citizen engagement, governance, environmental quality, economic vitality, health, and mobility.
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