International Living's Top 30 Countries to Retire in 2009

From: International Living; published 08/17/2009

excerpts:

1. Ecuador: Cuenca - You can rent a beautiful condo here for $300 a month or buy a large apartment for $43,000.

2. Mexico: Merida - Despite all of Mérida’s culture and sophistication, the price of real estate is still surprisingly low. Colonial houses in the heart of town routinely list for less than $100,000—sometimes much less.

3. Panama: Coronado - At little beach shacks like La Posada you can still have a meal for $5. A burger is $1, a steaming bowl of traditional sancocho, a chunky chicken soup, is $2. At the newest Mexican restaurant, Cholo’s, warm freshly made nachos cost less than $2 and you can buy a local beer for $1. At the San Fernando Clinic, a consult with an English-speaking doctor will set you back just $35…about half what you’ll pay in Panama City.

4. Uruguay: Punta del Este - And although it’s a world-class resort, prices are still unbelievably low for a home near the beach. There are plenty of properties for sale for less than $150,000.

5. Italy: Calitri - If you seek the real Italy and a charming village house for a bargain price (by bargain, we mean move-into for $60,000 or less), get to Calitri before the rest of the world discovers it.

Read entire detailed article with:

How our Global Retirement Index is scored Explaining: Ecuador has 77 points - Thailand 65 and South Africa 54 points:

below:

http://www.internationalliving.com/Interna...rement-index-09

LaoPo

There are some very nice places listed there LP. Food for thought for retirees.

Their 'Top 30 Countries' survey seems to revolve around real estate prices. Are you willing to spend your dying years in a country just because the housing is cheap? Thailand is attractive because of its people, not because of house prices (which foreigners can't own anyway).

Their 'Top 30 Countries' survey seems to revolve around real estate prices. Are you willing to spend your dying years in a country just because the housing is cheap? Thailand is attractive because of its people, not because of house prices (which foreigners can't own anyway).

That's incorrect Endure; please have a look at their website again and scroll down to their list with 30 countries and further down to:

How our Global Retirement Index is scored

http://www.internationalliving.com/Interna...rement-index-09

PS: maybe my -excerpts- were focused on real estate prices too much. Mea Culpa for that.

LaoPo

"Most retired couples" would least likely be choosing Thailand..

Edited September 15, 200916 yr by mooncake

Their 'Top 30 Countries' survey seems to revolve around real estate prices. Are you willing to spend your dying years in a country just because the housing is cheap? Thailand is attractive because of its people, not because of house prices (which foreigners can't own anyway).

That's incorrect Endure; please have a look at their website again and scroll down to their list with 30 countries and further down to:

How our Global Retirement Index is scored

http://www.internationalliving.com/Interna...rement-index-09

PS: maybe my -excerpts- were focused on real estate prices too much. Mea Culpa for that.

LaoPo

"Real Estate. Countries where real estate prices are low and the purchase of real estate is relatively easy receive the highest scores. We use our own experiences plus reports from our contributing editors and real estate contacts around the world to rate each country. Weight: 15%"

My apologies but I have to disagree with their score of 80 for real estate:

The purchase of real estate (apart from 49% condos) is illegal in Thailand.

^^^^

...what can I say ?

LaoPo

There are some very nice places listed there LP. Food for thought for retirees.

Some rather violent ones too. South Africa?

I lived on and off in Nicaragua; traveled through Honduras. The widespread poverty = beggars, urchins, hovels = unavoidable; property crime rampant.

If you cant buy freehold land and house by yourself, the RE score should be zero.

US State Dept diplomats' costs may be irrelevant.

I lived on and off in Nicaragua; traveled through Honduras. The widespread poverty = beggars, urchins, hovels = unavoidable; property crime rampant.

If you cant buy freehold land and house by yourself, the RE score should be zero.

US State Dept diplomats' costs may be irrelevant.

I may be mistaken.

Very interesting 'Cost of Living' index; Ireland: 29, UK: 30... Thailand: 69.

Very interesting 'Cost of Living' index; Ireland: 29, UK: 30... Thailand: 69.

From the link:

"Cost of Living. This score is based on statistics from the Indexes of Living Costs Abroad, Quarter Allowances, and Hardship Differentials, published by the United States Department of State, and on data published by Business International. We also use our firsthand experiences living and traveling in these countries.

The lower the score, the higher the cost of living. Weight: 20%"

LaoPo

I don't think they take quality into account in the real estate rating. Panama had some inexpensive places to live but they were of crappy quality.

Medical should be rated very high in Thailand, rather than low.

They overrated LOS infrastructure and special benefits. The special benefits should be a negative number in LOS.

I was surprised to see Brazil fairly high on the list. I have a good friend who has a girlfriend from Brazil. He recently took a trip to her home country and wasn't at all impressed. He told me that nothing is cheap there and that crime is violent, widespread and common.

He summed it up by saying that he now knows where he is NOT going to retire. Since he had a native guide, it's not like he was a tourist stumbling around by himself. My friend lives near Miami in Florida so most likely the climate in Brazil didn't make much of an impression.

Thailand ranked lower than South Africa for safety/stability

But at least when it comes to Health the country is only just behind Dominican Republic and ahead of Honduras.

First world here we come!

Thailand ranked lower than South Africa for safety/stability

But at least when it comes to Health the country is only just behind Dominican Republic and ahead of Honduras.

First world here we come!

Isn't this the same people that said Bangkok is the world's #1 city to live in? If so......nuff said.

I don't give a rat's ass about Thailand-Titanic anymore..........I just hope expats (and especially real estate hounds) don't start flocking to Uruguay and Ecuador.

Seems to have a lot of glaring mistakes.  Mexico safe? Real Estate in Thailand?  Special benefits in Thailand? etc etc.

Still an interesting read and perspective of other places though.

I would have thought language would have been a part of it also as I'm sure in most of these out of the way places you better be pretty fluent to get around.

I don't give a rat's ass about Thailand-Titanic anymore..........I just hope expats (and especially real estate hounds) don't start flocking to Uruguay and Ecuador.

JR, I'm curious why you're still here after a couple years of complaining about Thailand and professing your dislike for the place? You've had this right bitter anti-thai attitude ever since you showed up here, yet you just hang on. (and on, whinging away)

how can Thailand and Malaysia score only 40s on weather when we have pretty much the same weather of most of the south American countries listed which are in the 80s?

and even more weird, how can UK and Ireland beat Thailand for weather

Edited September 16, 200916 yr by stevehaigh

All of this really comes down to personal preferences. Some of these are very difficult categories to rate on, depending where in the country you live, whether you're inside a gated community (in South Africa you surely aren't 77 safe/stabile to go elsewhere) and various other things.

Seems like they rated Thailand based on Phuket's specifications. Of course I'm just assuming.

Great try though and an interesting article.

P.S. Here's a quote from their website: "France: The world’s best country"

Edited September 16, 200916 yr by heykki

Except for Croatia and Malta, I have been to all of these places, and I am rather puzzled by the rankings.  OK, Mexico has some fantastic retirement communities, but they are really geared to only US and Canadians.  So if you like American good, television, movies, books, etc, this is like living in Texas or California but much, much cheaper. 

But Panama?  Brazil?  South Africa? Ecuador as number 1?

Ecuador is a fine place to visit, but I doubt very much that a large percentage of westerners would really be happy pulling up stakes and living there full-time.

And where is the Philippines?  This country goes out of its way to attract retirees, is cheap, (has some amenities the other places don't have (VA for US retirees, for example), and the negatives are no worse than Panama and Brazil.

I know all these rankings are quite subjective, but this list makes very little sense to me.

Their 'Top 30 Countries' survey seems to revolve around real estate prices. Are you willing to spend your dying years in a country just because the housing is cheap? Thailand is attractive because of its people, not because of house prices (which foreigners can't own anyway).

BINGO! Give that post a Kewpie doll from the top shelf. The price of property has only a small impact on where someone chooses to retire. I would put Thailand far higher on the list than any in the top 10... for a number of reasons.

Bizarrely, and why I give very little cred to IL, they don't really take into account the REALISTIC possibility of obtaining long term visas for the countries they tout. By that measure Thailand would be very high (most middle class retired people could qualify) while Brazil would be low (only a small segment of retirees would qualify). Bottom line, IL is about selling their info services and also REAL ESTATE. If you can't live there, why would you buy real estate?

how can Thailand and Malaysia score only 40s on weather when we have pretty much the same weather of most of the south American countries listed which are in the 80s?

and even more weird, how can UK and Ireland beat Thailand for weather

Pretty big difference in that rating but they rate temperate environment and moderate rainfall highest. They should really account for the difference between cold rain and tropical rain.

But what really costs points is the "Special Benefits" category which is 20% of the rating versus 5% for climate. This is where property rights, employment restrictions, "duty-free imports of personal goods", etc. come into play.

Thailand ranked lower than South Africa for safety/stability

But at least when it comes to Health the country is only just behind Dominican Republic and ahead of Honduras.

First world here we come!

Isn't this the same people that said Bangkok is the world's #1 city to live in? If so......nuff said.

I don't give a rat's ass about Thailand-Titanic anymore..........I just hope expats (and especially real estate hounds) don't start flocking to Uruguay and Ecuador.

For a big boy who doesn't give a rat's about Thailand-Titanic you sure do a lot of posting and bitching and griping. If you hate it so much it might be time to give us all a break and move on.

ahh, they forgot a weighting for SEX...once you factor that in, Thailand will be NUMBER 1 !!!!!

How about a Top 30 countries for the best Go Go Bars?

They rank South Africa and Mexico as being safer than Thailand? Ok...I'll believe that when I can walk the length of Joburg or Mexico City alone drunk at 3am and not be afraid, just like Thailand.

They rank South Africa and Mexico as being safer than Thailand? Ok...I'll believe that when I can walk the length of Joburg or Mexico City alone drunk at 3am and not be afraid, just like Thailand.

Realistically how many expat retirees to SA or Mexico retire to Joburg or Mexico City? Thailand is a dangerous country but the dangers are not so much street crime, there are other more common ways to die here.

Thailand ranked lower than South Africa for safety/stability

But at least when it comes to Health the country is only just behind Dominican Republic and ahead of Honduras.

First world here we come!

Totally rigged and Americano centric.

Thailand climate?? 43, Honduras 83?? Panama 79?? beg to differ

Thailand Infrastructure 49, Panama 73?? Costa Rica 65?? beg to differ

Give Thailand either of these averages and wala....it's up to 12th.

And culture........ that's why I live here, so I give it 100 which places it fifth on this scale........ and first for me, 5555