Ecuador ranks third in Latin America for quality of life and sixth for cost of living

In its annual quality of life index, the international data collection service Numbeo ranks Ecuador third in Latin America, behind Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Ecuador ranks third in Latin America for quality of life, according to a new survey.

Numbeo’s rankings are based on more than 20 factors, including overall cost of living, purchasing power, availability and cost of housing and rentals, air and water quality, health care, travel and transportation, and security.

The Netherlands and Luxembourg rank first and second worldwide in the Numbeo’s 2025 rankings while Somalia and Nigeria rank last. North Korea and Venezuela were not included in the survey, the service said, due to difficulty in obtaining reliable information.

In April, Numbeo named Cuenca first for quality of life among South American cities with populations over 500,000. Quito ranked ninth.

In another survey, Numbeo ranked Ecuador sixth in Latin America for cost of living. Paraguay ranked first followed by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The survey noted that Ecuador, because of its use of the U.S. dollar, has had the lowest inflation rate in Latin America since 2000, averaging less than 2% a year.

In its survey notes about Ecuador, Numbeo said that four provinces, Guayas, Manabi, El Oro and Los Rios, remain “very dangerous” due to drug trafficking violence. “Our analysis is based on the fact that most of the country’s 24 provinces remain relatively safe, unaffected by the illegal drug trade.”

Numbeo claims its international crowd-sourced quality of life data base is the largest and most comprehensive in the world.