Where’s the Best Place to Retire Overseas?

As the year 2012 draws to a close, it’s natural to review the previous year and look forward to the next. If you’re planning to move abroad in 2013 one of the questions you’re probably asking yourself is, “where’s the best place in the world to retire overseas? Where will I have the best quality of life as an expat?”

Indexes and listings are helpful tools, but they’re only a place to start.

Eveyone’s idea of quality of life varies — my idea of heaven is the tropics, but the heat and humidity might be your idea of hell. So it’s important to dig a little to find out what’s being measured behind the scenes to go into that index.

With that said, here’s a recap.

Best Five Locations for Overseas Retirement

In an article yesterday, Kathleen Peddicord, publisher of Live & Invest Overseas, named her top five picks for overseas retirement in 2013. She fine tuned her recommendations, naming not just the country but the specific city or region:

1. Coronado, Panama
2. Languedoc, France
3. Ambergris Caye, Belize
4. Cuenca, Ecuador
5. Chiang Mai, Thailand

Best Quality of Life Cities

Numbeo.com maintains a database which they update frequently. Here’s what it looked like for the end of 2012:

1. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2. Berlin, Germany
3. Adelaide, Australia
4. Austin, TX, USA
5. Zurich, Switzerland
6. Doha, Qatar
7. Hamburg, Germany
8. Houston, TX, USA
9. Trondheim, Norway
10. Boston, MA, USA
11. Stockholm, Sweden
12. Chicago, IL, USA
13. Dubai, UAE
14. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
15. Capetown, South Africa

Mercer.com also publishes a city list, but this one’s very Europe-centric.

Mercer gathers its data from companies which are sending employees to work overseas. Their criteria are therefore different from what the average retiree or portable careerist is looking for in a top overseas home location.

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Auckland, New Zealand
4. Munich, Germany
5. Vancouver, BC, Canada
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Bern, Switzerland
11. Sydney, Australia
12. Amsterdam, Netherlands
13. Wellington, New Zealand
14. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
15. Toronta, Ontario, Canada

Mercer has also created rankings for infrstructure. While not exactly a quality of life issue, it’s an indication of a country’s propserity and its willingness to fund public works projects.

1. Singapore
2. Frankfurt, Germany
3. Munich, Germany
4. Denmark, Copenhagen
5. Dusseldorf, Germany
6. Hong Kong
7. London, UK
8. Sydney, Australia
9. Hamburg, Germany
10. Vancouver, BC, Canada
11. Yokohama, Japan

The Economist Magazine looks at the best cities for doing business.

1. New York
2. London
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Paris
6. Geneva
7. Sydney
8. Montreal
9. Dublin
10. Taipei

Depending on why you’re moving overseas — whether to retire, to run a business, or to work as an employee for a multinational company — you’ll find the different lists more or less helpful.

Here’s to a happy and successful expat life in 2013!

photo by xiquinhosilva on flickr