Which are the Best Mediterranean Countries?

These countries all have coastlines on the Mediterranean, and are thus generally considered to be attractive places for holidays, retirements, and thrill-seeking by the rest of Europe, due to the warmer Mediterranean weather.

There are 22 locations that fall within this category. By adding up all the known populations that fall within these locations, and summing their physical land areas, we can calculate population densities. Some islands and territories can end up being counted twice depending on how they are classified and divided up politically, but, mostly such errors involve only small populations. So, some data on this collection of countries in total:

• Population: 511.9m
• Land Area: 8 370 532km²
• Independent States: 21
• Other Territories: 1
• Compare to other regions of the world

1. Summary Data
2. Social and Moral Development
3. Demographics and Migration
4. Responsibility Towards The Environment
5. Culture, Peace and Inequality
6. Modernity and Learning
7. Health
8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance
9. Religion and Beliefs
10. Links

1. Summary Data

#economics #human_development #population #wealth

This page only shows places where the database has enough data to be able to come to reasonable conclusions about each place. The main focus is on nation states, but, some distinct external territories may be listed if the database has enough information about them. Averages are calculated from as many valid data points as possible, meaning, that some territories and locations that are not listed above may still be used to calculate some of the average values. Some calculations only use Independent State data - hover the cursor over values to see hints.

Links:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?
• The Population of the Earth
• Homosexuality in Animals and Humans

2. Social and Moral Development

#charitability #climate_change #culture #education #equality #freedom #gender_equality #health #human_development #human_rights #modernity #morals #peace #politics #prejudice #technology #the_environment #the_internet #tolerance

Here are each country's overall scores across the categories that make up the Social and Moral Development Index. This is followed by lists of how each country scores in each individual data set.

The Social and Moral Development Index concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, public health, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism, and on some technological issues. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: Which are the Best Countries in the World? The Social and Moral Development Index.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2026).

3. Demographics and Migration

#birth_control #demographics #health #immigration #life_expectancy #longevity #migration #overpopulation #population

Population:

Migration:

4. Responsibility Towards The Environment

#biodiversity #climate_change #deforestation #energy #environmentalism #food #internationalism #meat #over-exploitation #sustainability #the_environment #veganism #vegetarianism

We have known for a long term that we must protect the environment from habitation destruction, over-exploitation, pollution, and the emissions that cause climate change. In 1998, Greenpeace wrote that "Environment can no longer be meaningfully separated from health, quality of life, democracy, education, economy or trade"₁₄. What countries have been doing the right thing, via legislation and national culture? All countries' current and historical approach towards the environment is gauged via 21 datasets, including multiple decades of data on its forested percent change 2000-2020, its environmental performance, energy to GDP efficiency, its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment, the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population, reducing annual meat consumption per person and its score on the Green Future Index.

The countries that do the best (Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Switzerland) tend to have avoided the excesses of early industrial countries, and have not yet repeated the same mistakes of environmental destruction - at least, not on the same scale. The regions with the best average results per country are Central America, South America and Scandinavia. The worst are Eritrea, The Vatican City and Timor-Leste (E. Timor), and the worst regions Micronesia, Australasia and Melanesia.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Best Environmental Records" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

5. Culture, Peace and Inequality

#capitalism #charity #corruption #culture #economics #equality #extremism #freedom #happiness #health #human_development #inequality #internationalism #life_expectancy #morals #peace #politics #poverty #religious_violence #social_development #terrorism

This is the final pillar of the Social and Moral Development Index; it has 39 datasets, including multiple decades of data on resisting corruption, Creativity and Culture, overall happiness, Open Trading, Aid and Development, passport utility (so far), personal financial stability, World Giving Index, its Global Peace Index rating, Peacekeeping and Security, Refugees and UN Treaties, the impact of terrorism, poverty (so far), life expectancy inequality, Income Inequality (Gini Coefficient) and Multidimensional Poverty.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2026).

National Culture:

Peace Versus Instability:

Economic Inequality and Poverty:

6. Modernity and Learning

#education #english #intelligence #it_security #maths #metric #modernity #politics #religion #religiosity #research #science #secularisation #technology #the_internet

The most modern countries, with the best results from education, the highest levels of research, and with the easiest access to information on the Internet, are Finland, Iceland and Denmark₄₁. The worst countries are S. Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia₄₁. Despite improves in global education, access to tertiary (adult) education is becoming increasingly unequal between the rich haves and the poor have-nots₄₂.

“Education, at all levels and ages, is the single most vital support for equality as well as being a country's most vital economic and social resource. [...] Every successful aspirant to modernisation and economic development, from Japan to South Korea, China to Chile, has got there with a big emphasis on education.”

Bill Emmott (2017)₄₃

27 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on Research and Development, Intellectual Endeavours, metric system adoption rate, Religiosity, IQ, Secondary Education, Length of Schooling, Maths, Science & Reading, the percent of citizens with access to the internet, Freedom On The Internet, IT Security, IPv6 Uptake and digital quality of life. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Baltic States and Europe₄₁, whereas the worst are Melanesia, Africa and Micronesia₄₁.

For more, see:

• " Which Countries are Most Modern, With the Best Education and Internet Access?" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Modernity:

Education:

Technology and Information:

7. Health

#2010s #alcohol #birth_control #children's_health #demographics #health #life_expectancy #longevity #mental_health #obesity #overpopulation #parenting #population #smoking #suicide #vaccines

The countries with the best overall approach to public health, in terms of both public policy and individual lifestyle choices, are Monaco, Liechtenstein and Japan₆₀. These countries are worth emulating. And, although often through no fault of the average citizen, the worst countries are Angola, Somalia and S. Sudan₆₀.

42 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on its average life expectancy, its alcohol consumption rate, its fertility rate, its smoking rate, its suicide rate, its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance, the prevalence of overweight adults, obesity rate, its adolescent birth rate, delivery rate of infant DTP immunizations, delivery rate of 7x Infant Immunizations 2011-2015 and childhood mortality. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Europe and The Mediterranean₆₀, whereas the worst are Micronesia, Africa and Melanesia₆₀.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Healthiest Cultures and Health Policies" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Health:

Children's Health:

8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance

#equality #freedom #gender_equality #human_rights #morals #politics #prejudice #The_Mediterranean #tolerance

The best countries in The Mediterranean at protecting human rights, engendering tolerance and supporting equality, are France, Spain and Italy and the bloc as a whole does better than the global average. The worst countries are Syria, Libya and Palestine.

For full commentary and data, see:

• Which are the Best Mediterranean Countries at Human Rights, Freedom and Tolerance?

9. Religion and Beliefs

#belief #buddhism #christianity #folk_religion #god #hinduism #human_development #islam #judaism #no_religion #religion #religiosity #secularisation

Links:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• A List of All Religions and Belief Systems
• Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls
• Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?
• Human Religions