Can you guess which is the happiest city in Greater Lisbon? According to the recently released Happy Index 2026, the highest-ranked city in the country’s south-central region is not the capital, although it is just a stone’s throw from the city of the ‘Seven Hills’. More specifically, we are referring to Odivelas, which ranks 114th, ahead of Almada (124th) and Lisbon (159th).
What is the Happy City Index?
The Happy City Index is organized and promoted by the Institute for Quality of Life, headquartered in the United Kingdom (London) and with a presence in France (Paris). Annually, this comprehensive global study aims to identify cities that combine good governance, sustainability, resilience, and quality of life.
In this regard,all 251 cities mentioned in the ranking were evaluated using more than 64 indicators (by 466 researchers), distributed across the following main categories:
- Citizens
- Governance
- Environment
- Economy
- Health
- Sustainability.
Portuguese cities in the ranking
The Happy City Index 2026 is led by Copenhagen (Denmark), with no Portuguese cities in the top 10. In fact, the first mention of Portugal appears only in 69th place, which belongs to Maia. But , in addition to this northern city, there are other Portuguese entries on the list, namely :
- Matosinhos, 111th place
- Odivelas, 114th place
- Almada, 124th place
- Lisbon, 159th place
- Braga, 166th place
- Gondomar, 199th place
- Funchal, 225th place.