15 Most Affordable Places To Retire Abroad
When choosing a place to retire, we tend to keep our sights set on closer locales. However, while the United States offers a lot of variety, your retirement years are an opportunity to expand your horizons. Imagine being able to retire abroad where the living is affordable, and you can soak up new environments and experiences.
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To assist in your retirement planning, GOBankingRates used Numbeo, an online pricing database, to identify 15 countries (out of 131) that are the cheapest in the world to live during retirement. The countries are ranked by four key affordability metrics, and each metric is measured against what you would find in New York City:
Cost-of-living index: Includes the costs of local goods and services, such as restaurants, groceries, transportation and utilities
Average rent: The typical rental price in the country
Groceries index: Includes typical grocery prices in the country
Local purchasing power index: Measures the relative purchasing power of a typical salary in that country; a lower purchasing power buys fewer goods, whereas a higher purchasing power buys more
The study also factored in the following quality-of-life metrics for each country:
Healthcare index: Includes estimates of the overall quality of the healthcare system, healthcare professionals, equipment, staff, doctors and costs.
Safety index: Measures the safety of the country on a scale of 0-100; a higher safety index indicates a safer country, whereas a lower safety index indicates a more dangerous country
Peacefulness index rank: The level of peace in a country according to the Institute for Economics & Peace. The global peacefulness was weighted triple.
Based on a combination of these affordability and quality-of-life metrics, GOBankingRates’ study found that the most affordable places to retire abroad were in the following 15 top-ranked countries. Places are listed in reverse order, with the most affordable place to retire abroad appearing last in the list.
Their healthcare, public safety, and other metrics make these countries relative bargains, even compared with some of the cheapest places to retire in America.
15. Germany
Cost-of-living index: 62.9
Purchasing power index: 107.6
Grocery cost index: 50.9
Healthcare quality index: 71.9
Safety index: 62.4
Average rent: $785
Peacefulness index rank: 17
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14. Denmark
Cost-of-living index: 78.6
Purchasing power index: 105
Grocery cost index: 62.4
Healthcare quality index: 79.2
Safety index: 73.4
Average rent: $933
Peacefulness index rank: 3
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13. Estonia
Cost-of-living index: 54.8
Purchasing power index: 61.4
Grocery cost index: 42.4
Healthcare quality index: 74.1
Safety index: 74.9
Average rent: $518
Peacefulness index rank: 30
12. Spain
Cost-of-living index: 50.6
Purchasing power index: 82.5
Grocery cost index: 41
Healthcare quality index: 77.9
Safety index: 64.3
Average rent: $715
Peacefulness index rank: 31
11. Finland
Cost-of-living index: 67.5
Purchasing power index: 98.8
Grocery cost index: 58.2
Healthcare quality index: 77.1
Safety index: 73.2
Average rent: $772
Peacefulness index rank: 13
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10. Hungary
Cost-of-living index: 39.2
Purchasing power index: 53.1
Grocery cost index: 34.8
Healthcare quality index: 54.4
Safety index: 66.1
Average rent: $368
Peacefulness index rank: 19
9. Poland
Cost-of-living index: 38.6
Purchasing power index: 64
Grocery cost index: 30.8
Healthcare quality index: 57.6
Safety index: 70.8
Average rent: $536
Peacefulness index rank: 24
8. Romania
Cost-of-living index: 37.4
Purchasing power index: 52.5
Grocery cost index: 32
Healthcare quality index: 56.5
Safety index: 68
Average rent: $311
Peacefulness index rank: 25
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7. Austria
Cost-of-living index: 66
Purchasing power index: 91.2
Grocery cost index: 58
Healthcare quality index: 77.2
Safety index: 72.7
Average rent: $721
Peacefulness index rank: 6
6. Croatia
Cost-of-living index: 46.7
Purchasing power index: 56.2
Grocery cost index: 39.5
Healthcare quality index: 63.9
Safety index: 75.4
Average rent: $406
Peacefulness index rank: 17
5. Malaysia
Cost-of-living index: 35
Purchasing power index: 65.7
Grocery cost index: 36.7
Healthcare quality index: 70
Safety index: 47.1
Average rent: $305
Peacefulness index rank: 23
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4. Japan
Cost-of-living index: 64.6
Purchasing power index: 100.4
Grocery cost index: 66.5
Healthcare quality index: 80.3
Safety index: 76.9
Average rent: $604
Peacefulness index rank: 12
3. Portugal
Cost-of-living index: 45.3
Purchasing power index: 51.7
Grocery cost index: 36
Healthcare quality index: 71.5
Safety index: 68.5
Average rent: $703
Peacefulness index rank: 4
2. Slovenia
Cost-of-living index: 50.8
Purchasing power index: 61.7
Grocery cost index: 43.9
Healthcare quality index: 65.3
Safety index: 75.8
Average rent: $496
Peacefulness index rank: 5
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1. Czech Republic
Cost-of-living index: 48.9
Purchasing power index: 71.8
Grocery cost index: 40.7
Healthcare quality index: 75.5
Safety index: 73.4
Average rent: $640
Peacefulness index rank: 9
Jordan Rosenfeld contributed to the reporting for this article.
Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates selected measures of affordability, as well as quality of life and safety. GOBankingRates began by analyzing 131 countries’ (1) overall cost of living index score for each country, (2) local purchasing power, which measures the local buying power of typical incomes, (3) groceries cost of living index score, (4) healthcare quality index score and (5) crime index score. Then, by analyzing 422 international cities for which complete data was available, GOBankingRates found each country’s (6) average monthly rent. To calculate this figure, GOBankingRates first created monthly rent estimates for all countries by averaging the mean costs of (a) a one-bedroom residence in the city center and (b) one-bedroom residence outside the city center. Estimates for each country were then created by averaging these rent figures. All data used for these five factors was sourced from Numbeo. Finally, GOBankingRates found each country’s (8) peacefulness index rank from the Institute for Economics & Peace. Each factor was then scored, with overall cost of living index and average rent being weight double, and global peacefulness score being weighted triple. Countries were ranked on their cumulative score. Only the countries with data available for all factors were considered in the final ranking and all countries with a peacefulness score below the “medium” range were excluded. No. 1 is the cheapest country to retire to. All data was collected on and up to date as of January 5, 2023.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 15 Most Affordable Places To Retire Abroad
