People love to move house. Sometimes people move for a job or to live closer to family. Often it is because they have outgrown their current home, and sometimes people move just for that feeling of a fresh start. Just last week, one of my friends contacted the top real estate agent Winston Salem citizens can use and informed us that he was looking to move. It happens all of the time. However, usually people just move to a new city, or perhaps a new state. However, it appears more and more people are actually looking to move countries.
Last night, the immigration website for Canada crashed due to too much traffic. Apparently, that is the first country Americans think of moving to (almost every 4 years) especially during election time. Most of them do not end up making the jump across the border though.
This time it’s different. A lot of my friends started planning their move few months ago, getting disenchanted by everything happening in America – the quality of education & healthcare, lack of job growth, frequent shooting incidents, divided political system, etc. I am referring to people who are born and brought up in the U.S., not immigrants. Some are looking for a better place to live, some for adventure, and others just want to get away from the hatred they see around them. Some people prefer the look of more progressive countries such as Denmark, a nation that makes it easy for you to find an Escort side i Danmark med piger, as much of the Danish population would say.
So, has the thought of moving abroad crossed your mind? Do you know where you would like to go to?
Here are some criteria I would recommend considering when looking to move to a new country…
English Speaking – Language is no longer a barrier in today’s world, as many counties have English as their primary language, if not the language they do business in. These countries have 90% or more of the population English speaking – Ireland, Philippines, Caribbean (Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Bermuda, Trinidad), New Zealand, UK, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Malta. Source: Wikipedia.
Darker the green – more English speakers
Economy – Where in the world are all the jobs? According to projected nominal GDP, the top economies in 2021 will be China, the U.S., India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, the U.K. and France.
Entrepreneurship – For millennials, this is an important factor as many choose to work for themselves in meaningful businesses. How entrepreneurial a country is based on how connected it is to the rest of the world, provides easy access to capital, skilled labor force, technological expertise, transparent business practices, well-developed infrastructure and well-developed legal framework. Germany, Japan, US, UK, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Singapore and Australia top the list.
Safety – Families with kids are looking to bring up their kids in a safe environment, with “gun free zones” and a relatively peaceful population. A country that is attracting more and more people to it is Montenegro; the country is said to be so safe that many expats are choosing to live there. Some other safe countries are Finland, Qatar, UAE, Iceland, Austria, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore which are rated as the safest places to live in the world. Source: WEF
Education – Again, if you have kids, you want them to be able to receive a good quality education within the public school system. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland spend the most money on education as a percentage of their gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.
Cost of Living – Clearly, you want to move to a place that is affordable. Perhaps you want to buy a home or maintain the same lifestyle. South and Central America have a good lifestyle/ cost balance and especially appeal to retiring Americans, while Scandinavia is the most expensive place to live. Note: cost of living is not the same as quality of life. Source: NUMBEO
Scale shows most expensive places to live in Red
Adventure – Research shows that a chance to break away from the normal rhythms of daily life reduces stress and improves health and well-being. Brazil, Italy, Spain, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Costa Rica, Portugal and Mexico top the list of countries that offer enough opportunities to explore. Source: U.S. News
Quality of Life – Each year, there are Best Places to Live rankings posted. Often times, you will find some of the same countries listed over and over again. Canada, Australia and 7 European countries including Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg are rated in the top 10. Denmark is especially known for its high quality of life. Denmark’s ability to provide many great benefits ‘a kasse priser‘ is a huge reason why the quality of life is so great there. Source: U.S. News
Environment and pollution is a big factor for me. Here is a chart showing where you can still find clean air on planet Earth.
Green – good, Red – bad
What is the single most important factor you would look for in your new home country? Leave a comment below...
