The index which is prepared at the beginning of each year by International Living magazine forecasts the quality of living in a certain country for a specific year based on previous events.

Among 194 countries covered by the survey, Lebanon ranked in the 112th place. Lebanon’s average score was 54.3 points on the index, rising slightly from 54 points  in the 2009 index.

Lebanon came ahead of Bahrain and Syria which equally scored 53.5 points on the index. It also outperformed Qatar (52.4 points), Egypt (51.5 points), and the United Arab Emirates (50.45 points).  

The index is calculated based on nine main indices: the cost of living index, culture and leisure index, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety, and risk and climate indices. 

Lebanon scored 68 points on the cost of living index compared to 74 points in 2009. The drop in score indicates a rise in the cost of living and commodity prices in the country in 2009. It also indicates that International Living expects a further rise in commodity and living prices in 2010. 

Lebanon scored 53 points on the culture and leisure index which mainly studies the literacy rate, and newspaper circulation among 1,000 individuals. The score improved from 53 points in 2009; It also surpassed the regional average of 47.8 points, and the global average of 49.4 points.

On the Economy index which studies GDP growth and inflation rates, Lebanon’s score improved to 50 points from 30 points in 2009.

The country’s score on the Infrastructure index was 36 points, down from 41 points in 2009. It was also below the regional average of 39.7 points, and the global average of 45.9 points. This indicates that Lebanon still has poor infrastructure services compared to global counterparts.

The infrastructure services studied include the number of airports, vehicles, telephones, internet service providers, and cellular phones per capita.