Spain’s experimental quality-of-life index edged up to 101.74 in 2025

Spain’s experimental Multidimensional Quality of Life Indicator (IMCV) rose slightly to 101.74 points in 2025 from 101.43 in 2024, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported on 23 October. The index uses 2008 as its reference value of 100. It is a composite statistical measure of several dimensions of well-being, not a measure of GDP, household income or a direct survey asking respondents to rate life overall.

Six of the nine dimensions improved from 2024: material living conditions, work, health, education, environment and general life experience. Leisure and social relationships, and physical and personal safety, recorded lower scores. Governance and basic rights was unchanged because the 2025 Living Conditions Survey did not include its quality-of-life module, which is collected every three years. The headline improvement therefore masks both deterioration in some components and one dimension with no new observation.

The time series shows a gradual rise with interruptions rather than a continuous increase. The national index stood at 100.35 in 2015, reached 101.88 in 2019, eased to 100.85 in 2022, then moved to 101.16 in 2023 and 101.43 in 2024 before the latest reading. Values are index points on the 2008=100 scale; a change of 0.31 points from 2024 to 2025 is not a 0.31% change in quality of life.

The 2025 results also show differences between population groups. The global index was 102.48 for men and 100.59 for women. Women scored higher in education and general life experience by 10.95 and 9.36 points, respectively, while men scored higher in physical and personal safety by 16.09 points and in environment by 9.19 points. These are dimension-specific index comparisons, not findings that every person within a group has the same conditions or experience.

By nationality, the overall reading was 102.76 for Spanish nationals, 101.48 for foreign nationals from the European Union and 97.28 for foreign nationals from the rest of the world. The pattern varied by dimension: Spanish nationals scored higher in education and material living conditions; EU foreign nationals led in general life experience; and foreign nationals from outside the EU had the highest physical-safety score. The release cautions that the indicator combines underlying measures with differing reference periods.

Regionally, Navarra recorded the highest 2025 index at 105.43, followed by La Rioja at 104.30 and the Basque Country at 104.12. The lowest results were in Ceuta (98.33), Melilla (98.39) and the Canary Islands (99.40). Madrid had the largest year-on-year rise, 0.59 points, followed by the Valencian Community at 0.50. INE combines 55 underlying indicators, updates them at different intervals, and normalizes values across regions and years. Because adding a new year can rescale historical values, comparisons should use the latest revised series and the indicator’s experimental, equally weighted composite method.