What is the best country to live in?

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You may be considering living in a country other than the Netherlands. What would be the best countries to emigrate to? We went searching for answers for you. In this blog, you will read about topics related to the best countries as relocation destinations for emigration. We hope it helps you in your orientation.

Best country to emigrate to? Reasons

Of course, the reason plays a role in your choice for the best country to live in. If you are considering this important step of international moving because of study, work, residence, love, a new challenge, or a lifestyle choice such as enjoying your retirement, different factors will come into play for each individual reason to find the best country to live in.

Furthermore, your family composition is a big factor. The best country to live in with children might be different than when you, as an expat without a family, try to find the best country to live in.

Based on which factors do people decide what the best country to live in for them is?

Internations is one of the largest networks for people living and working abroad. Since 2014, they have been investigating multiple aspects in countries and evaluating what the best country is to live in based on the experiences of almost 12,000 respondents from 177 nationalities residing in 181 countries.

The result can be found in their annual Expat Insider report. These are the factors taken into account in this report to make an informed choice about the best country to live in, with our note that this is seen through 'expat eyes':

Quality of life
Including leisure opportunities, quality of the environment, personal or family happiness, travel & transport, health, and safety as categories.
Ease of settling
This includes feeling welcome, friendliness in this country, and finding friends and language.
Working abroad
With a job, career opportunities, and work-life balance as subcategories.
Personal finances
Cost of living and other financial aspects that may be relevant when choosing the best country to live in.

In which country best to live in? Top 10

De Haan took a look at the report for the total of 52 countries that scored in the top 10 as the best countries to live in according to the interviewed expats. These countries formed the top 10 best countries to live in for 2022:

Mexico
Indonesia
Taiwan
Portugal
Spain
United Arab Emirates
Vietnam
Thailand
Australia
Singapore

The best countries in Europe to live in

Which other countries in Europe, after Portugal and Spain, scored as the best country in Europe to live in? Here is a list for you:

Estonia
Switzerland
Austria
Hungary
Poland
Belgium
Denmark
France
Finland
Norway
Sweden
Greece
Germany

Is Switzerland the best country to live in?

In 2022, Switzerland took the 19th place in this ranking by expats on which country is the best to live in.

Expats rated the quality of life very high in Switzerland, with its beautiful nature and clean air (sixth and second place, respectively, out of all countries in this category) as good reasons to move to Switzerland. Switzerland is peaceful to live in and politically stable. The possibility to travel and the availability of transportation are widespread in Switzerland (sixth place out of all countries).

The reasons why Switzerland did not end up in the overall top 10 best countries to live in:

High healthcare costs (25th place out of all countries in this category)
Difficult to make local friends / socialize / settle (43rd place out of all countries in this category)
Expensive, including a challenging expat housing market and high costs

In which country would you rather not live?

These countries made it to the last ten countries in the overall rating for expats to live in. The bottom three, in particular, due to the high cost of living:

43. Malta
44. Italy
45. Turkey
46. South Africa
47. Japan
48. Luxembourg
49. Cyprus
50. Hong Kong
51. New Zealand
52. Kuwait

Source: https://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2022/best-and-worst-places-for-expats-40242

Have you chosen the best country to live in? De Haan helps you move internationally.

We hope that the above information about the best country to live in has helped you further in orientation. When you are ready to move to the best country of your choice, our international moving company is happy to assist you with a comprehensive package of possible moving services.

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