At Seasonal Jobs Abroad we love a good list, and as factors like cost of living can change fairly rapidly we’re always on the look-out for the most up-to-date information.
To that end, as retirement is always a hot topic among expats we’ve used data compiled by International Living to bring you a revised ranking of the top retirement locations.
These results are based on International Living’s Global Retirement Index, which lists nation’s based on their value and the quality of living they offer.
The categories taken into account include cost of living, healthcare, amenities, real estate, ease of integration, special benefits (government provisions etc) climate and infrastructure.
Generally speaking, the nations which claimed the top spots have comparatively low daily costs, a good standard of affordable healthcare, offer the possibility for investment in local real estate, an accepting culture, a temperate climate and a reliable network of roads, railways etc.
Each nation receives a score for each category which are then added together and averaged to produce the final ranking.
Here’s a list of the top twenty retirement locations based on those criteria (some might surprise you!)
1. Panama – Score of 91.2
2. Ecuador – Score of 91.1
3. Malaysia – Score of 88.5
4. Costa Rica – Score of 86.8
5. Spain – Score of 85.8
6. Colombia – Score of 84.2
7. Mexico – Score of 84.2
8. Malta – Score of 84.1
9. Uruguay – Score of 83.7
10. Thailand – Score of 83.5
11. Ireland – Score of 83.0
12. New Zealand – Score of 83.0
13. Nicaragua – Score of 82.6
14. Italy – Score of 82.5
15. Portugal – Score of 82.4
16. France – Score of 81.5
17. Philippines – Score of 80.8
18. Honduras – Score of 79.6
19. Guatemala – Score of 78.8
20. Brazil – Score of 77.3
Given that European nations like Spain and Portugal had a particularly hard time when the global financial crisis struck, the fact that the former country took the number 5 spot shows how far the recovery has come. Ireland, also made it to number 11.
If you are worried about the cost of potentially retiring overseas, view these tips for moving abroad on a budget.
What do you think? Are these the best countries to retire?