The world ranking of the happiest cities put Portugal back on the list, but with a result that may surprise. Among the Portuguese cities evaluated, only one entered the top 100, ahead of Lisbon, Porto and other national municipalities.
This is Maia. The municipality occupies 69th place worldwide in , with 6,273 points, ahead of all other Portuguese cities included in the classification and also some international destinations with greater notoriety.
How the ranking of the happiest cities is made
According to the Institute for Quality of Life, responsible for the index, the assessment seeks to measure the quality of life in cities through various indicators linked to urban daily life. The study takes into account areas such as governance, environment, economy, health, mobility, sustainability and citizen participation.
The 2026 edition was based on the analysis of 3,400 cities around the world. In a subsequent phase, this universe was reduced to a thousand cities, before arriving at the final list of 251 classified urban centers.
The organization states that the work involved hundreds of researchers and thousands of validated records, with the aim of comparing the performance of cities in different dimensions of urban life.
Maia stands out among Portuguese cities
Maia’s 69th place places the municipality among the 70 best-ranked cities in the world in this index. The position gains greater weight as it appears above several larger Portuguese cities and also well-known international destinations, such as Bordeaux, in France, and Adelaide, in Australia.
This result comes in a year in which Maia was also honored as European Capital of Volunteering, a recognition that reinforces the municipality’s projection in areas linked to civic participation and community life.
Although the ranking does not determine, in an absolute way, which is the best city to live in, the classification highlights the municipality’s ability to position itself in indicators associated with quality of life, urban functioning and sustainability.
Lisbon, Braga and Funchal are also on the list
Portugal has several cities in the Happy City Index 2026, but only Maia appears in the top 100 worldwide. Then come Matosinhos, in 111th place, Odivelas, in 114th place, and Almada, in 124th place.
Lisbon appears further down, in 159th position, followed by Braga, which occupies 166th place. Gondomar appears in 199th, while Funchal closes the Portuguese presence in the ranking, in 225th position.
The distribution of Portuguese cities shows that the index does not only privilege capitals or large urban centers. Smaller municipalities or those with less international projection can achieve relevant classifications when they present good results in the evaluated criteria.
Copenhagen leads the world rankings
At the top of the list is Copenhagen, Denmark, followed by Helsinki, Finland, and Geneva, Switzerland. Among the ten happiest cities in the world are Uppsala, Tokyo, Trondheim, Bern, Malmö, Munich and Aarhus.
The presence of several Nordic cities in the top places confirms a common trend in international quality of life rankings, where factors such as public services, mobility, environmental sustainability and urban balance usually have significant weight.
In the Portuguese case, Maia is the main highlight of the 2026 edition, emerging as the best-ranked Portuguese city and the only one in the country to enter the top 100 of the happiest cities in the world.
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