Spain’s multidimensional quality-of-life index reached 101.74 points in 2025, its third straight annual rise. Navarra, La Rioja and País Vasco ranked highest; the lowest scores were recorded in Canarias, Andalucía and Galicia.
The national score rose from 101.43 to 101.74 points in 2025, according to figures published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). The 0.31-point increase continues a recovery that began after declines from 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The regional rankings show how uneven that improvement remains. Navarra led the autonomous-community table, followed by La Rioja and País Vasco. Canarias and Andalucía were among the lowest-ranked regions, with Galicia also near the bottom. INE household-income data for 2024 offer a separate regional benchmark: 89.7% of municipalities in País Vasco and 71.3% in Navarra were among the quarter of Spanish municipalities with the highest average net annual income per person, above €17,157.
Six of the index’s nine dimensions improved: material living conditions and work; health and education; environment and general life experience. Leisure and social relationships weakened, as did physical and personal safety. In a separate measure of perceived health, INE reported that 79.0% of people in Ceuta and 70.7% in both Comunitat Valenciana and Extremadura rated their health positively in 2025.
The governance and basic rights dimension is described as unchanged. INE did not update it in this edition because the relevant module was absent from the 2025 Survey on Living Conditions, conducted every three years.
The overall score was 102.48 for men and 100.59 for women, a gap of 1.89 points. Women scored higher in education by 10.95 points and in general life experience by 9.36. Men recorded higher scores in physical and personal safety, with a 16.09-point difference, and in environment and surroundings, with a 9.19-point gap.
Spanish nationals had the highest overall score at 102.76. Citizens from other EU countries scored 101.48, while people from the rest of the world scored 97.28. The 5.48-point gap between Spanish nationals and non-EU residents does not, on its own, explain why the scores differ.
Results also varied by dimension. Spanish nationals scored highest in education and material living conditions. Other EU citizens led in general life experience, while people from outside the EU had the highest score for physical and personal safety. The index compares broad aspects of well-being; it cannot identify the causes behind the gaps. That distinction separates it from coverage of a specific episode such as the Ceuta border crisis, which concerned border-control failures.
The index covers more than income or economic activity, bringing together measures that include health, employment, education and the environment. The Comunidad de Madrid recorded the largest annual gain, up 0.59 points. The Comunitat Valenciana followed with a 0.5-point increase.
INE’s 2026 Urban Indicators add context on living conditions, covering 112 cities, 37 conurbations and 67 functional urban areas, as well as selected indicators for 429 municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The release reported that the average home-sale price in 2025 was highest in Calvià, at €981,485, and lowest in Puertollano, at €57,698.
