Abstract-A low-loss passive metamaterial exhibiting negative refractive index or "double negative" electromagnetic properties at microwave frequencies is proposed. The metamaterial is a lattice of spherical particles made up of multiple dielectric materials in concentric layers. Because no magnetic constituents (that tend to have higher losses) are involved, the negative-index behavior is possible with very low values of attenuation. A negative-index metamaterial based on dielectric-coated metal spheres is also proposed, and is predicted to have lower attenuation than other structures based on metallic scatterers. Numerical results and design principles are given.