African cities are experiencing rapid urbanization, with millions of people moving from rural areas to urban centers in search of better opportunities and improved living conditions.
As these cities grow, ensuring a high quality of life for their residents becomes increasingly important. One essential tool in achieving this goal is the development and implementation of a robust Quality of Life (QoL) index tailored to the unique challenges and characteristics of African urban environments.
Quality of Life encompasses various factors that contribute to the overall well-being and satisfaction of individuals within a community. These factors include but are not limited to healthcare, education, infrastructure, safety, employment opportunities, environmental quality, and social cohesion.
A comprehensive quality of life index provides a holistic measurement of these elements, offering valuable insights for policymakers, city planners, and citizens alike.
For Numbeo, one of the world’s most profound data and research platforms, the quality of life of any given region is an aggregate score of the following factors, purchasing power index, safety index, health care index, cost of living index, property price to income ratio, traffic commute time, pollution index, and climate index.
Methodology
The Quality of Life Index is derived from information gathered by Numbeo through user surveys. The questionnaires gather users’ opinions and experiences about a range of quality-of-life-related topics.
An empirical formula is used to construct the index, giving weights to each component according to their relative relevance. Numbeo’s exact formula is subject to change and may vary. The quality of life in a given place is represented numerically by combining the data gathered for each factor.
An empirical formula that accounts for all the previously mentioned factors is used to estimate the overall quality of life, with a higher score indicating a better quality of life.
With that said below are the list of African cities with the highest quality of life.
| Rank | City | Country | Quality of life index |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cape Town | South Africa | 148.3 |
| 2. | Pretoria | South Africa | 138.0 |
| 3. | Durban | South Africa | 136.9 |
| 4. | Johannesburg | South Africa | 130.6 |
| 5. | Nairobi | Kenya | 96.5 |
| 6. | Cairo | Egypt | 77.1 |
| 7. | Lagos | Nigeria | 49.9 |
