Asking “what’s the best country?” is a lot like asking whom you should marry. It all depends on what you like... and can live with. There are many variables that will influence your decision, beyond the ease (or difficulty) of entry and immigration requirements already discussed. Employment could be at the top of your list of considerations and lack of same could be a dealbreaker regardless of how much you love the place. Quality of life can mean different things to different people. Some prefer sandy beaches; others, gritty cities. Many consider a certain standard of roads, schools, and Internet connectivity to be crucial. Others might place a high value on the availability of familiar foods and products. Or you may be seeking to get as far away from all that as possible. Obviously, in many areas, from climate to culture, you might not necessarily be choosing a country so much as choosing a specific place—or type of place, anyway.
While few people would even go somewhere on vacation without getting an idea of what kind of climate to expect (if only to know what to pack), there are many who would move abroad without taking into consideration a constellation of other aspects that might impact their quality of life to an equal if not greater extent. You’re probably going to have to make some kind of prioritization and no doubt have to make sacrifices, as well. So while there are many nuances that make it impossible to completely “know before you go,” these are some things you might want to look into, certainly before you commit.
The following pages can offer only the slightest taste of the nearly infinite quantity and variety of information and data out there. Visiting the sites mentioned here will supply you with more expanded and detailed information. And if those don’t fully satisfy your insatiable hunger for knowledge, you’ll find a veritable buffet in the Resources section at the back of the book.
If you don’t or can’t make the effort to learn the local language, you limit your zone of comfort to large urban centers, tourist traps, and expat enclaves. You risk alienation because you’re constantly surrounded by conversation that you can’t understand. You may need to run the letter from your gas company through Google Translate or constantly get friends, neighbors and often strangers to explain even the most mundane communication.
That is, of course, unless you happen to find yourself in one of these English-speaking nations:
Antigua
Australia
The Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
Botswana
Brunei
Cameroon
Canada
Cayman Islands
Dominica
Fiji
Gambia
Ghana
Gibraltar
India
Ireland
Jamaica
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Malawi
Malta
Mauritius
New Zealand
Nigeria
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Swaziland
Tanzania
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda
United Kingdom
Zambia
Zimbabwe
English is also so widely spoken in Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia (and to a lesser extent, Japan and South Korea), that you could probably survive well enough without language skills. Though pop culture, mass tourism (and the need to sell something to them) and the Internet all contribute to greater English penetration around the world (and the younger the person you encounter is, the more likely it would be that he or she speaks English), your degree of comfort deteriorates, especially as you move further from the developed world. Even if you’ve landed in an exotic corner of the linguisticstan, there’s little excuse not to make an effort to learn the language of your adopted home. From local tutors, language meetups, to schools and multimedia home courses—not to mention McLanguage schools like Berlitz—you should find something that can suit your learning time and schedule. If you can, of course, start your education before you leave.
You should probably know some Mandarin to live here. You don’t have to know much to get by. I grew up speaking Cantonese and I took some Mandarin courses in university so I can get by pretty easily. I also know expats who just know numbers and street names and have no trouble. Chinese classes are also widely available and inexpensive.
I speak French, not perfectly and with an accent. My husband is learning to speak, he really doesn’t speak yet. People are very nice to him about his English; they really seem to want to learn English! However not many people speak English in Narbonne as compared to, say, Paris.
So you really need to have some French. Most of the Americans and English people we know do speak at least some French, and many are fluent.
Americans stay mostly within their small groups and rarely attempt to learn more than a few words of Hungarian. There is a large expat community here, from all over the world, who use English as a common language, plus a good-size British contingent. And, of course, Hungarians who speak English and want to keep improving their skills. Generally, it’s pretty easy these days to get by, as more people here speak at least some English than did 10 years ago.
It would be fairly difficult to get by speaking only English, but indubitably manageable to a patient and creative communicator. There are many affordable Spanish classes. In general the population is patient and friendly with a non-native speaker, but many of them have difficulty with accents.
I speak the corrupted Castilian Rioplatense Spanish, which is unique only to Buenos Aires. It is essentially Spanish spoken with an Italian rhythm with a German accent and with the haughtiness of French.
Buenos Aires is a city of immigrants, mostly Europeans from the second World War, and this is very much inflected in the local language. I think it is much more fun and dynamic to speak than general Spanish. Many people here also speak Italian. The local slang is called lunfardo, which is somewhat derived from Italian, and worth picking up.
While it definitely makes life a lot easier to be able to speak and read the local language, I’ve known people who have come here with zero knowledge of Japanese, made little or no effort to learn, and gotten by just fine. Fortunately for them, most Japanese do understand some degree of English and many people here are very accommodating.
If you live in Saigon or Hanoi then you can get by quite easily without Vietnamese (particularly in certain downtown areas). Even in areas with large tourist flow there is sufficient English ability among local Vietnamese (Hue, Nha Trang, Dalat, Can Tho). As English is the required foreign language among students, even as low as first grade in the cities.
It is easy to get by on just English. Most here know very basic greetings or common shopping words. With the huge mix of nationalities in KSA, most people you will encounter will speak English. It is greatly appreciated, however, when a Westerner speaks (or makes the attempt to speak) Arabic.
Singapore is a former British colony and everyone here speaks English. The majority of the population is Chinese by descent and speaks Mandarin as their first language, but everyone is required to speak English in school growing up. The accents might seem a little funny to you at first and your accent might seem a little funny to everyone else, but there are no real language issues here.
Many people that deal with expats and tourists speak at least some English. Many others speak French, a holdover from colonial days. My girlfriend speaks Khmer and this helps a lot.
There are expats who have lived here for almost a decade and longer who speak very little Czech and they’ve survived. Of course, this is the case in Prague, not the rest of the country. In fact, the best way to quickly pick up the Czech language is to live outside of Prague. Without being fluent in Czech, making friends with the locals is a challenge. Many of my friends are other English-speaking expats, and some Czechs who are fluent in English.
Life for an American in Lausanne can be quite alienating. The language and social barrier is very difficult. Most Francophones definitely don’t react like a Spanish-speaking person when you butcher their language. The Swiss Romande are also not renowned for their openness. I hear there is a saying about Switzerland that goes something along the lines of “The first time you enter a friend’s house is when you carry their casket out.” However, there are a lot of expats that you can get chummy with while they are around! Social life with expats can be great. If you learn French, social life can be really super.
If you want to leave America but would rather everything else besides the government look and act pretty much the same, you’d head for:
Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Being fully anglicized former British colonies (whose early settlers have to a greater or less extent, er, displaced the native population), you’ll find the most similarities here—and as a result, they tend to be popular choices. Though you couldn’t call it a carbon copy, Canada offers proximity along with familiarity—same architecture, same products, even the same electrical outlets, and only the barest hint of an accent/dialect in the conversation around you. You could almost forget you’re in another country—unless you want to visit a doctor or buy a handgun, that is. European society, particularly Western Europe and more so U.K. and Ireland (obviously), would still be comprehensible to most Americans. After that, things generally feel more alien (depending on your own background, of course). There’s probably no way to avoid culture shock completely, nor are there many quick and easy cures. Culture pervades everything, from the way people greet each other to how they do business to how they find lifemates or bedmates. Patience, flexibility and a sincere effort to get to know and understand your neighbors, however, certainly couldn’t hurt. As for how the local culture might mesh with your overall tastes and preferences, you’re encouraged to read as much as you can about the places you are considering and ideally schedule an initial exploratory visit so you can feel it out for yourself.
The young and single often fan out to where the rent is still cheap, but life is not quite so slow. However, urban areas are generally pricier than anywhere else. Conversely, fixed-income pensioners might want a place in the sun without paying resort prices. But be aware: the almighty dollar ain’t buying what it used to buy. Its plummeting value is probably the biggest hurdle and hassle that anyone will face when contemplating a move abroad (that, and the ever-expanding no-fly list, that is). That’s not to say that you can’t finance a lifestyle on a fraction of what it would cost in the U.S., but the differences aren’t what they used to be. Cheap, that is to say, has become a lot more relative. And unless you have some magic strategy to knock some fiscal sense into the Fed and Federal Reserve, you’re going to have to resign yourself to that particular aspect being out of your control.
That said, if it’s bargains you’re after, your search would tend to be south, toward the countries of Latin America. Southeast Asia also beckons along with India. The eastern part of Europe (old Soviet Bloc countries) are generally cheaper than the Western European ones, offering affordable opportunities for sophisticated or bohemian urban living. China’s cheap unless you want to live in a major city (i.e., any of the ones you’ve actually heard of) in which case you’d probably have saved money staying home. Ditto, Russia. Tourist resorts are also more expensive than a plot in the middle of nowhere and often more than in a major city. Thanks to the high-paid labor attracted by their oil boom, the disparity between the cost of living in Luanda, Angola’s capital, vs. the rest of the country is mind-boggling.
The prices one might pay for food, rent and transportation don’t necessarily align with the relative price of consumer electronics and brand-name clothing so a lot depends on your lifestyle as well. Organizations such as Mercer keep track of costs of living, generally aimed at the transfer and per diem set and provide a lot of helpful data free on their website www.mercer.com. Numbeo (www.numbeo.com) operates a wiki-style cost-of-living database—everything from the rent cost of a three-bedroom flat in Chiang Mai to a loaf of bread in Prague—and compiles averages and rankings of consumer price, rent price and grocery price by city and country and even lets you compare a variety of costs between two cities/areas. Generally, you can look at a population’s average income (how “rich” they are) and get an idea of whether the country is cheap or expensive to live in. These stats are as close as your local wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) or to see the numbers crunched and weighted every which way, have a look at the IMF’s (www.imf.org) World Economic Outlook database.
| Luxembourg | $108,831.70 |
| Norway | $84,443.63 |
| Qatar | $76,167.85 |
| Switzerland | $67,246.00 |
| United Arab Emirates | $59,716.85 |
| Denmark | $56,147.14 |
| Australia | $55,589.55 |
| Sweden | $48,874.61 |
| United States | $47,283.63 |
| Netherlands | $47,172.14 |
| Canada | $46,214.91 |
| Ireland | $45,688.76 |
| Austria | $44,986.58 |
| Finland | $44,488.64 |
| Singapore | $43,116.69 |
| Japan | $42,820.39 |
| Belgium | $42,630.11 |
| France | $41,018.60 |
| Germany | $40,631.24 |
| Iceland | $39,025.70 |
| Kuwait | $36,412.00 |
| United Kingdom | $36,119.85 |
| Italy | $34,058.72 |
| New Zealand | $32,145.23 |
Source: International Monetary Fund: World Economic Outlook Database, April 2011 www.imf.org
| Haiti | $672.92 |
| Bangladesh | $637.91 |
| Gambia | $616.56 |
| Burkina Faso | $597.53 |
| Zimbabwe | $594.33 |
| Timor-Leste | $588.43 |
| Rwanda | $562.31 |
| Nepal | $561.87 |
| Tanzania | $548.28 |
| Afghanistan | $517.18 |
| Guinea-Bissau | $508.66 |
| Uganda | $500.65 |
| Togo | $458.79 |
| Mozambique | $458.33 |
| Guinea | $448.49 |
| Central African Republic | $435.98 |
| Eritrea | $397.72 |
| Madagascar | $391.82 |
| Niger | $381.16 |
| Ethiopia | $350.46 |
| Sierra Leone | $325.76 |
| Malawi | $321.94 |
| Liberia | $226.05 |
| Dem. Republic of Congo | $186.28 |
| Burundi | $180.07 |
Source: International Monetary Fund: World Economic Outlook Database, April 2011 www.imf.org
1Luanda, Angola
2Tokyo, Japan
3Ndjamena, Chad
4Moscow, Russia
5Geneva, Switzerland
6Osaka, Japan
7Libreville, Gabon
8Zurich, Switzerland
8Hong Kong
10Copenhagen, Denmark
11Singapore, Singapore
11Oslo, Norway
13Victoria, Seychelles
14Seoul, South Korea
15Milan, Italy
16Beijing, China
17London, U.K.
17Paris, France
19Tel Aviv, Israel
1Karachi, Pakistan
2Harare, Zimbabwe
3Islamabad, Pakistan
4La Paz, Bolivia
5Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan
6Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
7Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
8Calcutta, India
9Tegucigalpa, Honduras
10Windhoek, Namibia
11Asuncion, Paraguay
12Gaborone, Botswana
13Tashkent, Uzbekistan
14San Salvador, El Salvador
15Tirana, Albania
16Tunis, Tunisia
17Skopje, Macedonia
18Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
19Chennai, India
Source: Mercer
When we first moved to Switzerland I thought we were not going to make it. There were so many unexpected expenses, such as the three-month rent deposit required to get an apartment and high costs for getting living permits etc.! I would not recommend moving to Switzerland as a small family without at least $15,000 in the bank and a job secured that will start paying immediately after you arrive. After being in Switzerland for six months things will get better if you cook at home and are frugal. Of course, this picture can look much different if you are a two-income household or have a highertier income.
In general, where I live, expats live on 25% to 30% what they did in the U.S. An average couple can live well on $1,200 to $1,500 a month. I know some expats who get by on $500 to $700 but it’s a spartan existence.
There are some truly badass regimes out there. Sure, their power may be puny compared to the United States, but they more than compensate by inflicting a level of oppression on their citizens that may leave you feeling fondly nostalgic for your home country’s Department of Homeland Security. That said, in many countries where citizens live under unenlightened rule, particularly in the Third World, it’s still possible to live out your days and barely be aware that the government even exists. Of course you will need to keep a low profile and avoid getting involved in politics, labor unions, and things like that.
The mainstream window into the dark heart of state oppression is the watchdog organization Freedom House (www.freedomhouse.org.) They issue a comprehensive report each year that determines whether the country ranks as “free,” “partly free” and “not free” in more or less the sense that a person who grew up in a Western-style democracy would conceive of the word. The organization and the related “democracy-promoting” efforts of the National Endowment for Democracy are hardly above suspicion that they aren’t busy rigging the political arenas they purport to monitor. Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org) does more case history and raw number tracking of human rights abuses across the globe. If you really want to know how badly a given government could turn on its people, you’re best investigating reports by human rights groups that are most involved in the country you have in mind. Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) publishes an annual report covering human rights conditions in 90 countries worldwide. Searching human rights + INSERT COUNTRY on Twitter will provide you with up to-the-minute tweets.
A related issue is whether you are moving to a nation of laws or a hotbed of criminals in politicians’ clothing. Do you bribe your way out of legal trouble or hire a lawyer? Ineffectual governments tend to preside over countries with frequent power outages, strikes, food and fuel shortages, currency crises, social unrest, and any number of unwelcome disruptions.
One omnibus monitoring group of state corruption is Transparency International (www.transparency.org). Your friends at the World Bank also monitor the quality of government in countries around the world as part of what they straight-facedly call their “poverty alleviation mission,” and generously share their findings on their website www.worldbank.org. As for who monitors the World Bank, well, nobody’s really sure.
| 1 | Denmark | 9.3 |
| 1 | New Zealand | 9.3 |
| 1 | Singapore | 9.3 |
| 4 | Finland | 9.2 |
| 4 | Sweden | 9.2 |
| 6 | Canada | 8.9 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 8.8 |
| 8 | Australia | 8.7 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 8.7 |
| 10 | Norway | 8.6 |
| 11 | Iceland | 8.5 |
| 11 | Luxembourg | 8.5 |
| 13 | Hong Kong | 8.4 |
| 14 | Ireland | 8.0 |
| 15 | Austria | 7.9 |
| 15 | Germany | 7.9 |
| 17 | Barbados | 7.8 |
| 17 | Japan | 7.8 |
| 19 | Qatar | 7.7 |
| 20 | U.K. | 7.6 |
| 178 | Somalia | 1.1 |
| 176 | Afghanistan | 1.4 |
| 176 | Myanmar | 1.4 |
| 175 | Iraq | 1.5 |
| 172 | Sudan | 1.6 |
| 172 | Turkmenistan | 1.6 |
| 172 | Uzbekistan | 1.6 |
| 171 | Chad | 1.7 |
| 170 | Burundi | 1.8 |
| 168 | Equatorial Guinea | 1.9 |
| 168 | Angola | 1.9 |
| 164 | Venezuela | 2.0 |
| 164 | Kyrgyzstan | 2.0 |
| 164 | Guinea | 2.0 |
| 164 | Dem. Republic of Congo | 2.0 |
| 154 | Tajikistan | 2.1 |
| 154 | Russia | 2.1 |
| 154 | Papua New Guinea | 2.1 |
| 154 | Laos | 2.1 |
| 154 | Kenya | 2.1 |
* Note: 10 = “Very Clean,” 0 =”Highly Corrupt”
Source: Transparency International, Corruptions Perception Index 2010.
The laws in Russia can seem at some times much stricter than in the USA. The difference, of course, is that in the U.S. you are expected to actually follow them. In Russia, with the exception of major things like robbery or murder or political crimes, there’s not much that you can’t arrange to be able to do, or get okayed post-facto.
The legal system is different, and has some significantly different foundational assumptions from U.S. law. Some examples:
There is no such thing as having both names (that is, yours and your wife’s) on a property title. This is not because you can’t both own a house—it is because you cannot both be owners. If you are married, there is automatic dual-ownership of everything. Having two names on a title isn’t dual-ownership-in-whole; it is each party having some separate percentage of ownership. It takes some getting used to.
In court, the arresting (or ticketing) officer is considered one of the parties to the case, and as such his testimony carries very little weight (at least, it carries the exact same weight as does your testimony, saying “no, I didn’t”). Presumption of innocence and burden of proof are taken very seriously.
Driving a car is considered “operating a piece of dangerous equipment”—exactly the same thing as, for example, handling a loaded rifle. If you hurt a person with your car, and they weren’t themselves in a car at the time, it is your fault. Period. You were the one who brought the dangerous equipment to the game, you failed to protect everything and everyone around you from it. I had a pedestrian walk out in front of my car, and lightly clipped her. Expect to have to pay a decent chunk of change in either fines and medical costs or in bribes or in just smoothing-it-over money if you do something like that. It means drive carefully.
Do you demand to see potable running water every time you turn on the tap? Can you live without DSL, pizza delivery or a faithful supply of electricity? Do you expect a hardware store to be open at 3 a.m.? If these are important concerns, you’ll have to sort the developing world from the already developed (and mega-developed) world. You will often find that many expat communities in Third World countries establish themselves in particular areas because a higher standard of service is available there. Check local forums and websites for such localized information. Because infrastructure development is of great interest to corporate elites, it’s no surprise that their supporting institutions have given this dimension a fair bit of coverage. The World Bank webpage (econ.worldbank.org) provides downloadable reports and information on development in specific countries. Similar types of reports are also put out by the World Economic Forum (www.weforum.com). The always-helpful CIA World Factbook is another good source (www.cia.gov). Because your Internet connectivity is probably your lifeline, it’s good to check out what the hi-speed situation will be in your new home. You can find tons of Internet usage stats for any country (including the number of Facebook subscribers!) at www.inter-networldstats.com. To get an idea of who’s getting how much download (and upload) speed, check out the stats at www.speedtest.net.
7 = best and 1 = worst
| 1 | Switzerland | 6.8 |
| 2 | Hong Kong | 6.7 |
| 3 | Singapore | 6.6 |
| 4 | France | 6.6 |
| 5 | Iceland | 6.6 |
| 6 | Austria | 6.4 |
| 7 | Sweden | 6.4 |
| 8 | Finland | 6.4 |
| 9 | Germany | 6.3 |
| 10 | Denmark | 6.3 |
| 11 | UAE | 6.2 |
| 12 | South Korea | 6.0 |
| 13 | Canada | 6.0 |
| 14 | Portugal | 6.0 |
| 15 | Japan | 6.0 |
| 16 | Luxembourg | 6.0 |
| 17 | Netherlands | 5.9 |
| 18 | Barbados | 5.9 |
| 19 | Taiwan | 5.9 |
| 20 | Belgium | 5.8 |
| 139 | Bosnia & Herzegovina | 2.0 |
| 138 | Angola | 2.2 |
| 137 | Mongolia | 2.3 |
| 136 | Romania | 2.4 |
| 135 | Paraguay | 2.4 |
| 134 | Nigeria | 2.4 |
| 133 | Nepal | 2.4 |
| 132 | Lebanon | 2.5 |
| 131 | Chad | 2.5 |
| 130 | Bangladesh | 2.7 |
| 129 | Timor-Leste | 2.7 |
| 128 | Burkina Faso | 2.8 |
| 127 | Mauritania | 2.8 |
| 126 | Burundi | 2.8 |
| 125 | Benin | 2.9 |
| 124 | Tanzania | 3.0 |
| 123 | Vietnam | 3.0 |
| 122 | Serbia | 3.0 |
| 121 | Cameroon | 3.1 |
| 120 | Bulgaria | 3.1 |
Source: World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010–2011
| Greenland | 90.3 |
| Iceland | 90.0 |
| Norway | 86.0 |
| Finland | 83.0 |
| The Netherlands | 82.9 |
| Sweden | 80.7 |
| Australia | 80.6 |
| New Zealand | 80.5 |
| Denmark | 80.4 |
| Faroe Islands | 77.1 |
| Falkland Islands | 76.7 |
| South Korea | 76.1 |
| Switzerland | 76.0 |
| Luxembourg | 74.9 |
| Israel | 74.0 |
| Japan | 73.8 |
| U.S. | 73.2 |
| Canada | 72.3 |
| U.K. | 71.8 |
| Andorra | 71.3 |
Source: www.internetworldstats.com
| 1 | South Korea | 34.48 Mbps |
| 2 | Sweden | 27.07 Mbps |
| 3 | Lithuania | 26.34 Mbps |
| 4 | Romania | 24.05 Mbps |
| 5 | Latvia | 23.74 Mbps |
| 6 | Netherlands | 23.58 Mbps |
| 7 | Moldova | 21.37 Mbps |
| 8 | Switzerland | 18.77 Mbps |
| 9 | Germany | 18.50 Mbps |
| 10 | Belgium | 18.22 Mbps |
Source: Speedtest.net
I continue to miss good infrastructure (roads, garbage, schools, telephones, government office efficiency, etc.). In general, Mexican government offices are understaffed and underequipped and are not as efficient as their counterparts in the USA.
Hong Kong has the best public transit system I have ever seen....Chicago might be the worst I’ve ever seen. I think most Americans have a hard time dealing with the fact that other countries/cities are better than our country/cities...Internet, goods, and services are easily accessible anywhere.
The many travel warnings issued by the U.S. State Department notwithstanding (and few experienced travelers regard them as anything but overly shrill and paranoid pronouncements), there aren’t many places on planet Earth, unless they are engulfed by war or massive civil unrest, as dangerous as your typical U.S. metropolis or meth-addled exurbia. And while the odds of getting mugged, raped or assaulted might decrease when you leave this country, the likelihood of being swindled, pickpocketed or burgled tends to the fill the crime vacuum. Obviously, like in the States, crime risk varies dramatically between different regions, between cities and towns, and even within neighborhoods, so overall country lowdowns have only limited value. Still, you could check out the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (www.unodc.org) for reports and stats though their latest ranking surveys are getting pretty old. The Legatum Institute publishes a prosperity index (www.prosperity.org) that looks at crime and public safety, among the many factors affecting and affected by human happiness and prosperity. And in the developed world, check out what the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (www.oecd.org) has to say as well as the UN-affiliated European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (www.heuni.fi). Also, you have to factor in how various jurisdictions define certain crimes, how willing the population is to report any crimes to the police, and how willing a particular government is willing to share those stats (particularly when it doesn’t make them look good). Any decent travel guide can give you the crime picture in any given area. Asking the locals, of course, is even better.
For a truly comprehensive quantification addressing all manner of anxieties, Maplecroft (www.maplecroft.com), a global risk management company, assesses your relative safety, from terrorism and political upheaval to natural disasters and climate change, and publishes an annual Global Risk atlas and other ratings and ranking indexes.
1Iceland
2Norway
3Finland
4Ireland
5Singapore
6Denmark
7New Zealand
8Sweden
9Slovenia
10Taiwan
Source: Legatum Institute: “Ten Safest Countries in the World”
1Somalia
2Pakistan
3Iraq
4Afghanistan
5Palestinian Occupied Territory
6Colombia
7Thailand
8Philippines
9Yemen
10Russia
Source: Maplecroft
Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
Homicide Statistics, 2003–2008 www.unodc.org
Reported Cases per 100,000
| U.S. | 281.6 |
| Germany | 183.1 |
| Canada | 173.8 |
| Mexico | 160.4 |
| New Zealand | 150.4 |
| Scotland | 127.5 |
| Italy | 100.3 |
| Ireland | 93.9 |
| Luxembourg | 91.8 |
| Hungary | 80.7 |
| Northern Ireland | 70.3 |
| Norway | 69.1 |
| Sweden | 52.8 |
| Chile | 49.4 |
| Finland | 39.1 |
| Poland | 38.9 |
| England and Wales | 32.2 |
| Japan | 26.7 |
| Denmark | 26.7 |
| Spain | 25.2 |
| Iceland | 20.2 |
| Czech Republic | 8.3 |
| Slovakia | 8.0 |
| Portugal | 6.5 |
| Australia | 3.1 |
| Switzerland | 2.9 |
| Slovenia | 1.0 |
| France | 0.3 |
Source: European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control,
Latest International Comparison of Crime in OECD Countries
Reported Cases per 100,000
| Australia | 1530.2 |
| New Zealand | 1476.3 |
| Denmark | 1317.9 |
| Austria | 1203.3 |
| England and Wales | 1157.7 |
| Sweden | 1094.2 |
| Iceland | 950.4 |
| Slovenia | 902.9 |
| Spain | 878.9 |
| Switzerland | 758.1 |
| U.S. | 714.4 |
| Canada | 680.9 |
| Northern Ireland | 663.9 |
| Luxembourg | 659.1 |
| Germany | 631.6 |
| France | 622.4 |
| Scotland | 597.6 |
| Belgium | 586.6 |
| Ireland | 567.9 |
| Czech Republic | 523.3 |
| Finland | 467.2 |
| Poland | 455.3 |
| Hungary | 442.2 |
| Portugal | 429.1 |
| Holland | 427.5 |
| Greece | 292.3 |
| Japan | 234.0 |
| Turkey | 216.9 |
| Italy | 190.2 |
| Slovakia | 186.8 |
| Chile | 134.0 |
| Norway | 75.0 |
| Mexico | 20.6 |
| Korea | 4.4 |
Source: Institute for the Study of Civil Society (Civitas):
Latest International Comparison of Crime in OECD Countries (www.civitas.org)
Japan happens to be one of the safest countries in the world. Of course there is crime, like anywhere else, but to a lesser degree. It’s not uncommon for lost wallets to be returned with all the cash still inside, and articles lost on buses and trains are often turned in to station attendants surprisingly quickly.
Mexico has been in the news a lot lately because of narco-trafficking. While there are many areas of Mexico where even innocent citizens are affected by the violence of the drug trade and other related businesses, this is not the case in Oaxaca City. That said, there has been and continues to be a great deal of social unrest in Oaxaca which has on occasion led to violence, but most often leads to marches and blockades of the principal streets in the city and which make it difficult/impossible to drive in the city.
The crime here is definitely increasing—I’ve been held up twice at gunpoint on my own block, but got away both times.
The availability (or lack thereof) of decent affordable healthcare ranks toward the top of the reasons people leave the United States. All of the developed world and much of the developing world offer a comprehensive national health plan to citizens and residents. The U.S. spent the highest portion of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health services (and near the top, per capita) and gets less to show for it than much of the developed and even some of the underdeveloped world. So there is little doubt that you can “trade up” when it comes to healthcare.
The UN’s World Health Organization (www.who.int) will give you the bird’s-eye view of the health situation in any country. You’ll get the basic stats, plus bulletins or reports on health and disease triumphs and outbreaks around the world.
The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (www.oecd.org) compiles up-to-date reports on various aspects of the health, healthcare and health insurance of its 30+ (and growing) member countries. Comprehensive statistics on health (among other topics) and healthcare can be found at stats.oecd.org.
| Luxembourg | 7,439 |
| Norway | 7,354 |
| Monaco | 7,338 |
| U.S. | 7,285 |
| Switzerland | 6,108 |
| Iceland | 5,971 |
| Denmark | 5,551 |
| France | 4,627 |
| Ireland | 4,556 |
| Austria | 4,523 |
| Sweden | 4,495 |
| Canada | 4,409 |
| Netherlands | 4,243 |
| Germany | 4,209 |
| Belgium | 4,056 |
| Australia | 3,986 |
| San Marino | 3,878 |
| U.K. | 3,867 |
| Finland | 3,809 |
| Italy | 3,136 |
| Andorra | 2,948 |
| New Zealand | 2,790 |
| Japan | 2,751 |
| Spain | 2,712 |
| Greece | 2,679 |
| Qatar | 2,403 |
| Portugal | 2,108 |
| Israel | 1,893 |
| Slovenia | 1,836 |
| Cyprus | 1,778 |
Note: Amounts measured in dollars and reflect per capita total of public and private healthcare expense. Source: World Bank: World Development Indicators, “Health expenditure per capita (current US$).”
| Monaco | 1.78 |
| Singapore | 2.32 |
| Bermuda | 2.46 |
| Sweden | 2.74 |
| Japan | 2.79 |
| Hong Kong | 2.91 |
| Macau | 3.20 |
| Iceland | 3.21 |
| France | 3.31 |
| Spain | 3.42 |
| Finland | 3.45 |
| Anguilla | 3.49 |
| Norway | 3.55 |
| Guernsey | 3.58 |
| Malta | 3.72 |
| Czech Republic | 3.76 |
| Andorra | 3.84 |
| Ireland | 3.89 |
| Germany | 3.95 |
| Jersey | 4.02 |
| Switzerland | 4.12 |
| Israel | 4.17 |
| Liechtenstein | 4.20 |
| Slovenia | 4.21 |
Note: Figures indicate total number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births. Source: The World Factbook 2010. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2010.
| Monaco | 89.78 |
| Macau | 84.38 |
| San Marino | 82.95 |
| Andorra | 82.36 |
| Japan | 82.17 |
| Guernsey | 82.08 |
| Singapore | 82.06 |
| Hong Kong | 81.96 |
| Australia | 81.72 |
| Canada | 81.29 |
| Jersey | 81.28 |
| France | 81.09 |
| Spain | 81.07 |
| Sweden | 80.97 |
| Switzerland | 80.97 |
| Israel | 80.86 |
| Iceland | 80.79 |
| Anguilla | 80.77 |
| Bermuda | 80.60 |
| Cayman Islands | 80.57 |
| Isle of Man | 80.53 |
| New Zealand | 80.48 |
| Italy | 80.33 |
| Liechtenstein | 80.19 |
| Norway | 80.08 |
Source: The World Factbook 2010. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2010.
Since there is so much talk and so much controversy surrounding proposed changes to the healthcare system in the U.S., I’ll try to lay out what the medical system is like in Canada so you can understand how it functions. Universal healthcare is mandated by the Federal government and carried out by the provinces. Each province sets rates, methods of payment and the services provided, although a medical card from anywhere in Canada is recognized in all provinces.
I spent a week in Victoria, BC, and developed a terrible cough. I went to a clinic, showed my Ontario Health Card and got to see a doctor free of charge. All visits to MDs are covered—general practitioners and specialists. Most drug tests are covered. All hospitalization costs are covered. Alternative services such as chiropractic and massage therapy are funded partially by some provinces. And the cost for all of this? In British Columbia the rate for a single person is approximately $60 per month and for a family of three or up, it’s $120. That’s it. And, if you are low-income, there are subsidies. In Ontario, it’s even more amazing, thanks to an agreement brokered when the NDP (New Democratic Party—equivalent to the British Labour Party) was part of a coalition with Liberals, no one in Ontario pays for healthcare directly. The entire system is paid for by a universal employer tax.
The downside to all of this? Basically, you have to wait longer for non-urgent care in Canada than you do in the U.S. Elective surgeries can take years to schedule, but urgent care is right up there with the care you get in the U.S. and all the day-to-day stuff is covered. No one loses their home in Canada because they need heart surgery. They might have to wait if it isn’t critical but they won’t have to pay once their place in line comes up.
I’ve had a hiccup in getting healthcare, as teachers in small private schools like mine don’t qualify for healthcare until they’ve been in the country for three months. We’ll see if this becomes an issue. In general, though, based on my experience in Japan, the healthcare system is solid. Everyone is required to get coverage with the national or employee system (though smaller companies provide additional service). I broke my wrist in Japan, forcing me to deal with medical Japanese terminology and testing my insurance policy for the first time; the treatment I received was excellent, and the cost was pretty low, considering I needed minor surgery. As a whole, I believe the systems in place in Korea and Japan are superior to that of the U.S.; all their citizens receive healthcare, and pre-existing conditions do not apply.
Medical services are free, including doctor visits and hospitalization. A recent experience in my family shows how well the system works: A year ago my husband had a heart attack. An ambulance arrived after a very short wait; he was given medicine and a few tests including EKG before the ambulance even left the driveway. This was apparently to determine whether he should go directly to the hospital that is the center for heart problems or to the local hospital that is also equipped with a Cardiology Department but not able to do heart surgery. In five days he was back home after having had an angioplasty and the insertion of three stents, hopefully as good as new. Had he needed bypass surgery, that would have been also done as soon as possible. There was never a discussion of what a procedure would cost. That is something that isn’t part of the equation unless one chooses to go to a private hospital instead of a public one.
The first time I had to go the the doctor here, I thought I was going to have to pay at least a few hundred dollars, but the NZ$15 for the visit and the $1 prescription were welcomed surprises. Everything for anyone is subsidized by the government. I have read that the conservative political party wants to implement a private system like the U.S., and if that ever goes into play, then I’m out of here. I do, however, have extra insurance for specialist visits and hospitalisations which only costs me NZ$48/month. Most of my Kiwi friends don’t have that supplemental coverage but I guess I’m used to this coming from America.
Dental care in Hungary is incredible and cutting-edge, while remaining extremely inexpensive. The U.K. and Ireland actually offer Dental Tours to come here—stay for a week or two and have dental work done, as the total cost is still less than in the U.K. and Ireland. I recently had three implants done, accompanied by three teeth pulled, temporary bridges and permanent bridges, and total cost was around $4,500—probably would have been closer to $20,000 in the states. All other dental care is comparable: a cleaning is around $30, X-rays $25.
Medical care, on the other hand, varies widely depending on what you need. I had to have an angioplasty a few years ago, and the hospital staff, ICU staff and my doctor, whom I’d never seen before, were fantastic; from arrival at the hospital to being wheeled back to the recovery room, it was around two to three hours. Stayed in ICU for two days and in regular wards (not nice places) for two more days. Total cost for everything was around $12,000. Still a positive experience. There are other alternatives here, like an American-style health service, but the cost is probably the same as in the U.S., i.e., quite high.
Re: insurance, it is available, both from the state and privately. Medicare/Medicaid does not apply here, but anyone can buy any other insurance. Legal residence requires either proof of personal health insurance or purchasing it from the state—very expensive.
My daughter was born here in 2005 and we had no health insurance and we went to the second best hospital in the country. It cost us $1500 with a year of aftercare. My son was a C-section and it was $3000. I’ve had the best dental care since I’ve been here.
There is a hospital in my neighborhood, the China-Japan Friendship Hospital. In the Chinese branch of the hospital, a consultation with a doctor costs between $1 and $3. In the foreigner’s branch, the same visits cost between $15 and $30—but I have reason to believe the doctors are only bringing home a few dollars a day. This means that they tend to go out of their way to get you to come back to the hospital as many times as possible—a prescription must be renewed with a doctor visit and pills are handed out in five-day supplies. While I’m not eager to get back to the world of insurance companies, I do miss having a doctor who isn’t scrimping for pennies.
If Americans really understood how the “socialist” healthcare in Europe worked and they experienced it for themselves, they’d be outraged at their politicians. Let’s just say, an ambulance ride would not cost you a week’s salary.
I can (and have) gone to the doctor for an average of 28 USD per visit. I got food poisoning from some bad shrimp from a Chinese restaurant recently...this could happen anywhere...felt so bad that I decided to see if the doctor would come over. He did. He brought antibiotics and several other medications, cost of the visit including the meds was about 50 USD. A HOUSE CALL, you ask? Yes. The doctor I go to is German. Trained in Germany, U.S. and Mexico. There is nothing wrong with the healthcare here!
Healthcare in Russia is two-tiered. The free healthcare (once you’re a grownup—for kids, primary care is done through the school doctors, and is just an automatic part of being in school) is purely at a level of ‘keep you from dying’—and they do a good job of that. Outside that, you can pay for pretty much any level of healthcare you want. As with so many other things in Russia, the cost of healthcare and the quality of what you can get are far superior to the U.S. system.
As an example, our third son was born in Pushkin. For prenatal visits, we saw no need to go fancy, and just used a doctor at the local maternity center. They saw us regularly, did much the same types of checkups, ultrasounds, etc. that the U.S. docs did on our first two kids. Appointments were always kept, and we spent much less time waiting in Russia (which is sort of unexpected) than we did in the U.S. Then when it came time to have the baby, we arranged with the local maternity hospital to have their highest-end deluxe private room and the whole works (the other end of the scale—free care—has four mothers sharing a room that is spartan in the extreme). Our son resisted coming out but the doctors and nurses remained calm and professional throughout. Then when he finally arrived, he wasn’t breathing and didn’t react at all. They whisked him immediately out to their intensive care section, leaving my wife and I with a doctor and nurse. Ten minutes or so later (it felt a lot longer, but you’ve got to respect the fact that the kid was the docs’ only priority) our doc came up to fill us in. They got our boy up and breathing and everything quick as a wink, but had put him on a feeding tube and incubator-type thing. He was moved to a bigger hospital in St. Petersburg to be observed, so they could figure out what had happened and, more importantly, make sure it wasn’t going to happen again. I rented a room for my wife in the children’s hospital, where our son was in the Neonatal ICU. He stayed in the NICU for five days, then with her in her room for another week—regular EKGs and whatnot to make sure he was getting along as he should.
The other side of medicine in Russia is home-visits. Since we lived out of the city, it was often more convenient to call a doctor out to us (in particular for the regular checkups they insisted our youngest son have for his first two years). We were able to have a neurologist come out to our house evenings or on Saturdays (it was cheaper to do it during regular hours, but I preferred to be home for it) for at most 2500 rubles ($90), all-inclusive.
There’s simply no comparison between healthcare in Russia and the pitiful thing they call healthcare in the States.
The healthcare system in Australia is pretty good. My wife and I have never held any private healthcare insurance in Australia, but we are automatically covered by the government Medicare system as a result of our permanent residency...whether we work or not. Depending on the clinic, Medicare will pay all or most of the bill for a doctor’s visit. On the other hand, while looking for a GP in the city, we have had a very hard time finding a doctor who is readily available on the Medicare system. Most of them are quite crowded and require you to book an appointment far in advance.
Thus, our main encounters with the healthcare system here have been when we needed immediate help and went to the emergency room of a hospital. I went once when I got an infection of my finger, and my wife has gone several times when she has had an eye infection. Some hospitals here are private and some are public, and it was a bit of a challenge to find an appropriate public hospital near us. Upon arrival, the emergency room put us through a triage process to determine what order the doctors would see us based on the severity of the problem. We have found that the wait times to see a doctor vary, but sometimes it can be quite long (up to four or five hours). Overall, the quality of doctors and care have been quite high...and it is clear that the doctors really do care about their patients.
Healthcare is excellent. Get a premium policy. I’m 43, I pay about $120 a month, had three surgeries with no deductible. Emergency room costs $10, if you don’t want to wait to see a doctor. Plastic surgery is popular here. I had a hernia operation and ulnar nerve decompression. The surgeries went well. Overall, you get much better treatment here than with doctors in the USA.
Nobody likes paying taxes and once the deficit-spending express comes to a crashing halt, you may find that whatever wealth you’ve managed to cling to will prove irresistible to a broke and desperate Fed. For those searching for a more laissez-faire host to park yourself and your assets, there are still countries that levy little or no income and capital gains taxes, particularly if it’s earned outside the country. In most cases, if you have to ask which ones they are, you can’t afford them. Even if you’re cool with paying your share, you won’t be able to make any kind of costs vs. income calculations regarding moving abroad, unless you first find out what kind of cut the government is going to take. You can find an overview of a given country’s taxation scheme, plus plenty of general articles about business and taxation worldwide at www.worldwide-tax.com and at the Tax Articles International Articles Directory (www.taxarticles.info). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development also keeps tax stats and reports on its member nations at www.oecd.org.
| Income Tax Rate % | Capital Gains Tax Rate % | |
| Andorra | 0 | Real Estate (0–15) |
| Anguilla | 0 | 0 |
| Bahamas | 0 | 0 |
| Bahrain | 0 | 0 |
| Bermuda | 0 | 0 |
| British Virgin Islands | 0 | 0 |
| Brunei | 0 | 0 |
| Cayman Islands | 0 | 0 |
| Kuwait | 0 | 15 |
| Maldives | 0 | 0 |
| Monaco | 0 | 0 |
| Montenegro | 9 | 0 |
| Oman | 0 | 0 |
| St. Kitts & Nevis | 0 | 20* |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | 0 |
| Vanuatu | 0 | 0 |
* Does not apply to trusts or limited partnerships. Source: www.taxrates.cc
| % of GDP | |
| Denmark | 48.2 |
| Sweden | 46.4 |
| Italy | 43.5 |
| Belgium | 43.2 |
| Finland | 43.1 |
| Austria | 42.8 |
| France | 41.9 |
| Norway | 41.0 |
| Hungary | 39.1 |
| Slovenia | 37.9 |
| Luxembourg | 37.5 |
| Germany | 37.0 |
| Czech Republic | 34.8 |
| U.K. | 34.3 |
| Ireland | 34.1 |
Source: OECD Tax Database (2009–10)
Brazil is one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world. It’s one of the main reasons certain items are more expensive here than in the USA, especially if they are imported. Sales taxes are hidden from the consumer. When you buy something sales tax is not added on. It is included in the price so the consumer never sees it. But tax can amount to as much as 65% of the price.
Singapore has unspeakably low taxes relative to the U.S., and even though the Feds still have a claim on you abroad (and are the only country in the world that does so), the net result is still more take-home pay and more savings. Better still, Singapore does NOT have withholding tax, which makes an absolutely stunning difference in your feelings and your attitude about how much money you have, and in actual (not emotional) terms it allows you to do things with that money until it is owed, so you in fact can achieve a return on that money and improve your overall wealth.
The Singapore tax system is very friendly and transparent—they have a relatively low income tax of 10–20% that you pay based on a graduated basis (i.e., your first x dollars are taxed at 10%, your next y dollars are taxed at 12%, etc.). They have no capital gains taxes in Singapore, so if you are able to invest locally you may do so. I will pay tax in the United States as I’m legally obligated to do so, despite the fact that I’m paid by a foreign entity entirely into a foreign bank account. I will receive the Foreign Earned Income Tax Exclusion on the first $90k+ for which I need not pay any federal tax, but after that I will owe taxes on the rest. I can, of course, deduct what I pay in Singapore taxes on the remaining income over the excluded amount from what I’ll ultimately owe to Uncle Sam.
In Russia, foreigners are taxed at 30% of income—but, it is reported income. And no one in Russia will cooperate with the taxing authorities to get them a good number for income. I’ve seen statistics claiming that the average pay in Russia is on the order of a couple hundred dollars a month. That’s completely laughable. A couple hundred bucks a month is just the average that people are willing to report. My mechanics make 10 times that in a not-remarkable month. The cleaning lady gets more than twice the reported statistic for average wage. So we pay tax in Russia, but it isn’t much.
Yes, I pay a lot in taxes, but in return there is a functional healthcare system. I’ve never heard of anybody who has gone into debt because they got sick. There is also an amazing public transportation network, fast intercity trains, and well-maintained roads. I might note that on all these counts, the United States generally fails.
What’s your bottom line? Earn less in exchange for a slower pace, friendly locals, and scenic surroundings...or do you see yourself landing a high-paying overseas gig or launching a new business abroad? In some nations, state-run bureaucracies seem almost designed to stifle businesses and employment. If you’re looking for where the hiring has gone wild and building and business permits are more plentiful than zoning restrictions, you’ve got a friend in the World Bank (www.worldbank.org). Their Doing Business Index (www.doing-business.org) provides up-to-date information about the business climate in over 180 different countries. The rankings cover everything from tax policies to, yes, building permits. The Manpower Group (www.manpowergroup.com) keeps watch on the world labor market and offers many free reports on their site. The World Bank, the World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org), the CIA (www.cia.gov) and many other less scary institutions will provide you with all the economic health data you can handle.
| Employment Increase 2010–11 | |
| China | +14 |
| India | +13 |
| Romania | +12 |
| Taiwan | +11 |
| Belgium | +9 |
| Czech Republic | +9 |
| Italy | +9 |
| Japan | +8 |
| Panama | +7 |
| Germany | +6 |
| Hungary | +6 |
| Mexico | +6 |
| Employment Increase 2010–11 | |
| Greece | -10 |
| Peru | -9 |
| Costa Rica | -7 |
| Guatemala | -5 |
| Switzerland | -2 |
| Sweden | -2 |
| South Africa | -2 |
| Austria | -2 |
| Poland | -1 |
| Australia | -1 |
| Norway | 0 |
Source: Manpower Group: Employment Outlook Survey (2nd Quarter 2011)
World Bank Ranking
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Australia | 2 |
| Canada | 3 |
| Singapore | 4 |
| Macedonia | 5 |
| Hong Kong | 6 |
| Belarus | 7 |
| Georgia | 8 |
| USA | 9 |
| Rwanda | 9 |
| Ireland | 11 |
| Mauritius | 12 |
| Saudi Arabia | 13 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 14 |
| Azerbaijan | 15 |
| Puerto Rico | 16 |
| U.K. | 17 |
| Jamaica | 18 |
| Egypt | 18 |
| Samoa | 20 |
| France | 21 |
| Armenia | 22 |
| Panama | 23 |
| Taiwan | 24 |
| Afghanistan | 25 |
| Cyprus | 26 |
| Denmark | 27 |
| Slovenia | 28 |
| Iceland | 29 |
| Tonga | 30 |
Source: World Bank Doing Business Project, Ease of Doing Business Index (2011)
See: www.doingbusiness.org/rankings
(7 = financially sound)
| Canada | 6.7 |
| New Zealand | 6.6 |
| Australia | 6.6 |
| Chile | 6.5 |
| Hong Kong | 6.4 |
| South Africa | 6.4 |
| Namibia | 6.3 |
| Singapore | 6.3 |
| Panama | 6.3 |
| Brazil | 6.3 |
| Finland | 6.3 |
| Barbados | 6.3 |
| Malta | 6.3 |
| Luxembourg | 6.2 |
| Slovakia | 6.2 |
| Mauritius | 6.2 |
| Qatar | 6.2 |
| Bahrain | 6.1 |
| Israel | 6.1 |
| Norway | 6.1 |
| Sweden | 6.0 |
| Cyprus | 6.0 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 6.0 |
| Spain | 6.0 |
| India | 5.9 |
| Peru | 5.9 |
| Austria | 5.9 |
| Senegal | 5.9 |
| Czech Republic | 5.9 |
| Costa Rica | 5.8 |
Source: World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey (2008, 2009)
The red tape involved in starting a business and doing business here is terrible. Go as high up the ladder as you can for answers and advice. I got sent here because two men had previously failed at getting permissions to start the business. The President of our company had promised our largest customer he would open a local support facility and our customer wasn’t happy that the company had been unable to do that. He asked me to look through the files and see if I could find out why it hadn’t happened. It didn’t take long to see that Mexican lawyers were sending everyone in circles asking for duplicate and triplicate documents, telling them how difficult it was, etc.—and the only thing actually getting done was they were sending large invoices! No one was really keeping track of the paper trail, and I so advised him. Shortly after that he asked me to go to Mexico and open a branch.
Once I arrived here, local attorneys tried the same thing; estimates to do the startup paperwork were astronomical and they all emphasized they needed unlimited, irrevocable power of attorney, something the owner of the company was not willing to give any attorney. One insisted the only way we could open a branch was if he was made manager.
But my assistant and I were able to determine that the decision on all foreign companies coming to Mexico was made in Mexico City at SECOFI (Ministry of the Economy). So one evening my assistant called up SECOFI and said in her most important tone of voice (and she could fake importance very well): “Very important business lady from the United States requires some assistance from the Secretary of Economy.” I was put in touch with the Secretary of Economy. He didn’t waste much time with me but he did refer me to two new grads who had just started to work for the government and instructed them to do whatever it took to help me and get this new business established. They jumped through hoops, and it ended up costing less than U.S. $50.
I am quite careful to watch the paperwork details, or to make sure an employee is watching that. The Mexican government employs people who do nothing but go through paperwork to see that every minute detail is completed; if not, there’s a fine. Also, do not succumb to the local tradition of paying bribes to expedite things. It does speed things up when you’re trying to meet a deadline, but trust me, they’ll be back again and again expecting larger and larger payoffs.
It’s kind of like a Communist country here because the government runs everything. There is no free enterprise. Most of the people who have a job here work for the government one way or another. Phone, power, water, everything like that is all government-run.
Living in a Socialist Republic or a Communist country people assume that there are myriad difficulties and regulations and problems but I somehow find it more free than America in many ways. That is not to say that there is not censorship, unjust imprisonments, land issues and the like, but what country is completely free from such things? I believe the laws here allow for more entrepreneurship and it is evidenced by the sheer amount of businesses and commercial activity within the country. It’s alive and humming in trade and selling in a way I’ve never seen in the States. And I’ve certainly never felt hindered by the laws here.
I think the key thing in terms of managing your money is your outlook on the value of the U.S. Dollar, and making a decision about how to manage those risks. Without performing an overly detailed analysis, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that most anyone considering expatriation probably has serious concerns about the U.S. Dollar—if you don’t, you should. I would say that getting yourself out of the U.S. Dollar entirely is probably the single best reason to consider expatriation sooner rather than later.
In recent years, a steady stream of environmentally-minded Americans have packed up and left the States in search of pristine surroundings, sustainable living options, and a more life-friendly relationship to the environment. Whether you’re seeking a land of wind farms and solar panels or where natural habitat is cherished and allowed to flourish, the Yale University Environmental Performance Index might be a good place to start. The Index (see below) ranks over 160 countries on over two dozen performance indicators relating to everything from public health to pollution to conservation efforts. The website also provides detailed reports for each individual country (www.epi.yale.edu). The New Economics Foundation (www.neweconomics.org), which is dedicated to “Economics as if people and the planet mattered,” publishes a ranked list of countries by their ecological footprint as well as oodles of supporting data in their Happy Planet Index (www.happyplanetindex.org).
| 1 | Iceland | 93.5 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 89.1 |
| 3 | Costa Rica | 86.4 |
| 4 | Sweden | 86.0 |
| 5 | Norway | 81.1 |
| 6 | Mauritius | 80.6 |
| 7 | France | 78.2 |
| 8 | Austria | 78.1 |
| 9 | Cuba | 78.1 |
| 10 | Colombia | 76.8 |
| 11 | Malta | 76.3 |
| 12 | Finland | 74.7 |
| 13 | Slovakia | 74.5 |
| 14 | U.K. | 74.2 |
| 15 | New Zealand | 73.4 |
| 16 | Chile | 73.3 |
| 17 | Germany | 73.2 |
| 18 | Italy | 73.1 |
| 19 | Portugal | 73.0 |
| 20 | Japan | 72.5 |
| 21 | Latvia | 72.5 |
| 22 | Czech Republic | 71.6 |
| 23 | Albania | 71.4 |
| 24 | Panama | 71.4 |
| 25 | Spain | 70.6 |
Source: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy (Yale University):
Environmental Performance Index 2010. See: epi.yale.edu
Capacity (in Megawatts)
| Germany | 9,785 |
| Spain | 3,386 |
| Japan | 2,633 |
| U.S. | 1,160 |
| Italy | 1,167 |
| Czech Republic | 465 |
| Belgium | 363 |
| China | 305 |
| France | 272 |
| India | 120 |
Source: European Photovoltaic Industry Association (www.epia.org)
Capacity (in Megawatts)
| China | 42,287 |
| U.S. | 40,180 |
| Germany | 27,214 |
| Spain | 20,676 |
| India | 13,065 |
| Italy | 5,660 |
| France | 5,660 |
| U.K. | 5,204 |
| Canada | 4,009 |
| Denmark | 3,752 |
Source: Wikipedia
Operable Reactors
| Argentina | 2 |
| Armenia | 1 |
| Belgium | 7 |
| Brazil | 2 |
| Bulgaria | 2 |
| Canada | 18 |
| China | 13 |
| Czech Republic | 6 |
| Finland | 4 |
| France | 58 |
| Germany | 17 |
| Hungary | 4 |
| India | 20 |
| Japan | 51 |
| Korea RO (South) | 21 |
| Mexico | 2 |
| Netherlands | 1 |
| Pakistan | 3 |
| Romania | 2 |
| Russia | 32 |
| Slovakia | 4 |
| Slovenia | 1 |
| South Africa | 2 |
| Spain | 8 |
| Sweden | 10 |
| Switzerland | 5 |
| Ukraine | 15 |
| United Kingdom | 19 |
| USA | 104 |
Source: World Nuclear Association: www.world-nuclear.org
There isn’t much to say about food except that it’s incredibly important since you’re probably going to be eating locally, oh, about three or so times a day. Most of the developed world has a similar variety of restaurants and dishes—sushi, pizza, pasta, chow mein, etc.—found in most U.S. cities and towns. Unless you’re actively trying to avoid civilization in general, you’re not likely to be that far from the megachains (McDonalds, Starbucks, Subway, etc.), and their websites (not to mention a variety of smartphone technologies) will gladly show you where the closest outlets are to your particular GPS coordinates. Still, food—from the quality and availability of ingredients to appealingness of the cuisine—can vary not just from country to country but from region to region and from town to city. Many expatriates find their deepest joy out of the simple buying of fresh-squeezed juices for less than a dollar on the streets of Mexico or being able to sip fantastic espresso at practically any café in Italy and Portugal. You can get a general lowdown from travel guides and foodie magazines, but unfortunately, you won’t really know what it tastes like until you get there. Even simple things like milk, butter, cheese and bread often have a different flavor than what you might be used to. Speaking of milk, Canada, Australia and Scotland (but not England) restrict or prohibit sales of raw milk or cheese. The E.U. has outlawed or restricted (prescription only) a number of healing herbs. And some things you like to eat just might not grow in your new location.
If your destination is so exotic that you want to know if the food is even safe to eat, the Bites webpage (bites.ksu.edu) tracks everything from salmonella to indigestion all across the globe.
India
U.K.
Hong Kong
Malaysia
Taiwan
Israel
Vietnam
Thailand
Canada
Source: expatify.com
Hectares under Cultivation
| U.S. | 66.8 million |
| Brazil | 25.4 million |
| Argentina | 22.9 million |
| India | 9.4 million |
| Canada | 8.8 million |
| China | 3.5 million |
| Paraguay | 2.6 million |
| Pakistan | 2.4 million |
| South Africa | 2.2 million |
| Uruguay | 1.1 million |
| Bolivia | 0.9 million |
| Australia | 0.7 million |
| Philippines | 0.5 million |
| Burkina Faso | 0.3 million |
| Mexico | 0.1 million |
| Spain | 0.1 million |
Source: The Economist Online
Being that the U.S. is THE land of convenience there are things I miss but the pangs for Mexican food usually pass once I get a good Indian curry.
Do you prefer to mingle with people who call their deity by some specific name, or are you someone who wishes if people must resort to belief in such entities, that they should please just keep it to themselves—and for God’s (or whomever’s) sake, don’t mix it with government? Depending on how you count, there are maybe 20 major religions in the world, although most expatriates who aren’t on some kind of anthropology or missionary kick need only concern themselves with fewer than a dozen that could conceivably have any influence on a society (much less government) in which you’d likely find yourself.
Then there is the matter of the level of religiosity of the society. It’s important to remember that many Islamic countries, such as Turkey, Morocco and Egypt, even if they are not theocracies, per se, often have Islamic values embedded in their cultural norms if not the legal system. Northern European countries tend to be nominally Protestant, but in practice, religion is not taken seriously beyond the usual holidays and homilies. You’d probably find the influence of Catholicism is more palpable in Ireland and Central and South America than it is in France, Spain or the former Soviet Bloc countries, with the exception of perhaps Poland and Romania.
The CIA factbook (www.cia.gov/library) will give you the basic breakdown, by religion, of any country. For more in-depth and detailed information, Adherents.com has gathered a pretty comprehensive database of all things religious.
If you are concerned about a possible reversal of the Roe v. Wade precedent, the issue of women’s rights, particularly reproductive rights, might be high on your list of concerns. Currently, more than 61% of the world’s people live in countries where induced abortion is permitted either for a wide range of or reasons or without restriction as to reason. The Center for Reproductive Rights (www.reproductiverights.org) keeps tabs on reproductive rights around the globe.
While abortion is a good litmus test for a nation’s attitude toward the rights of women, it hardly tells the whole story. There are parts of Eastern Europe and Russia where domestic violence is considered simply the way things are, although much of the former Soviet world still enjoys liberal abortion laws, a holdover from the Communist days when church and imam had little influence in the legislation of morality. In Latin American countries, domestic violence continues to receive scant attention from the legal system. There is variation in the Islamic world, too. Some countries—Saudi Arabia, most notoriously—treat women essentially as legal minors under the eternal guardianship of their male family members. Other more secular countries still have cultural restrictions governing how women may dress, act or where she can even go. A general breakdown of how each country treats their women (and children) can be viewed at www.savethechildren.org. For more income- and employment-related measures, check out the World Economic Forum’s (www.weforum.org) Global Gender Gap report.
1Iceland
2Norway
3Finland
4Sweden
5New Zealand
6Ireland
7Denmark
8Lesotho
9Philippines
10Switzerland
11Spain
12South Africa
13Germany
14Belgium
15U.K.
16Sri Lanka
17Netherlands
18Latvia
19U.S.
20Canada
21Trinidad & Tobag
22Mozambique
23Australia
24Cuba
25Namibia
26Luxembourg
27Mongolia
28Costa Rica
29Argentina
30Nicaragua
Source: World Economic Forum: The Global Gender Gap Report, 2010
(www.weforum.org)
Severely Restricted or Prohibited Altogether
(countries in bold allow procedure to save the woman’s life)
Afghanistan
Andorra Angola
Antigua & Barbuda
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brazil
Brunei
Central African Rep.
Chile
Congo (Brazzaville)
Côte d’Ivoire
Dem. Rep. of Congo
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
El Salvador
Gabon
Guatemala
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Honduras
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Kenya
Kiribati
Laos
Lebanon
Lesotho
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Oman
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Philippines
San Marino
Sao Tome & Principe
Senegal
Solomon Islands
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Syria
Tanzania
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela
West Bank & Gaza Strip
Yemen
Very Restricted (Generally to Preserve Physical Health)
Argentina
Bahamas
Benin
Bolivia
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Chad
Comoros
Costa Rica
Djibouti
Ecuador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Grenada
Guinea
Jordan
Kuwait
Liechtenstein
Maldives
Monaco
Morocco
Mozambique
Niger
Pakistan
Peru
Poland
Qatar
South Korea
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Togo
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Zimbabwe
Restricted (Allowance Also to Preserve Mental Health)
Algeria
Botswana
Colombia
Gambia
Ghana
Hong Kong
Israel
Jamaica
Liberia
Malaysia
Namibia
Nauru
New Zealand
Northern Ireland
St. Kitts & Nevis
Saint Lucia
Samoa
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Spain
Swaziland
Thailand
Trinidad & Tobago
Somewhat Restricted (Allowed Also on Socioeconomic Grounds)
Australia
Barbados
Belize
Cyprus
Fiji
Finland
U.K.
Iceland
India
Japan
Luxembourg
Saint Vincent & Grenadines
Taiwan
Zambia
Little or No Restriction
Albania
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Canada
Cape Verde
China
Croatia
Cuba
Czech Rep.
North Korea
Denmark
Estonia
France
Fmr. Yugoslav Rep.
Macedonia
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Guyana
Hungary
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Nepal
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
United States
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights: “The World’s Abortion Laws: Fact Sheet,” (2009)
www.reproductiverights.org
Abortion is a big issue now in Argentina and may soon be legalized. Also, oral contraception is not difficult to get hold of now but it may not be the kind that women from the developing world are accustomed to—what is available are generally the old-school variety that have high hormone levels. Condoms are easily obtained and a new law in Buenos Aires even requires them to be available in all late-night establishments, such as bars and restaurants, but there’s no way to put it delicately—the national brand condoms suck. They are not the fancy ‘for her pleasure’ kind that those from developed countries may be used to.
As a “Caucasian” woman in China, I’ve found it much more difficult to meet potential romantic partners than I did in the U.S. I think this is due to many Chinese men’s perception that Western women are, for a variety of reasons, unsuitable for a long-term, take-home-to-meet-your-parents type of relationship. Chinese women, on the other hand, seem much more open to dating foreign men, which makes the pool of potential dating candidates that much smaller to foreign women. I’ve known plenty of foreign women in China who are perpetually single or seem to have only short-lived relationships, and not for lack of trying to find a romantic partner, or because they just wanted to stay single. That said, I’ve been in a relationship with another expat for the past two years, and I’ve got foreign female friends in long-term relationships with other foreigners or locals, so it’s not entirely impossible. Just, perhaps, more difficult than we’re used to.
I am pale-skinned and blonde so my appearance is quite different from most locals. As for being a single, over-60 female managing a business in a foreign country...I have found my experience in Mexico much better than in the U.S. If someone doesn’t like doing business with me because I’m a woman, at least Mexican people are polite. I haven’t found that to always be true in the U.S. But in my 15 years here, I have only had one experience where someone expressed a disinterest in doing business with me...and he was not Mexican!
Most progressive countries have struck down laws against homosexual behavior and many have replaced them with laws against discrimination based on sexual preference. Sodomy Laws (www.sodomylaws.org), the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (www.iglhrc.org) and your faithful Wikipedia (search “LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory”) provides an excellent overview of gay rights by country.
However, cultural acceptance is another matter. Laws in your favor don’t guarantee you won’t be harassed or worse. By and large, the news is good. According to a recent opinion study by National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, most countries are becoming more tolerant toward gays and lesbians, but the trend is not universal (approval is dropping in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Russia) and obviously varies between urban and cosmopolitan areas and the hinterland. Try the Gay Times (www.gaytimes.co.uk/gt/listings.asp) or the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (www.iglta.org) for a more detailed lowdown on how necessary it is to keep it on the down-low.
Five Most Tolerant Countries Toward Homosexual Behavior
Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
Switzerland
Belgium
Source: University of Chicago,
National Opinion Research Center study, 2011
The Following Countries Have Enforceable Laws Against Sex Between Consenting Adults of the Same Sex:
Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Bhutan
Botswana
Brunei
Burundi
Cameroon
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana
Grenada
Guinea
Guyana
Iran
Jamaica
Kenya
Kosovar Auto. Rep.
Kuwait
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine Territory
Papua New Guinea
Qatar
Russia: Chechnya
Saint Lucia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Swaziland
Syria
Tanzania
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uganda
UAE
Uzbekistan
Western Samoa
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Rights Conferred on Same-Sex Partners Worldwide:
(Formal legal recognitions of same-sex partnerships at the national, state, and provincial levels)
Andorra
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Colombia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Falkland Islands
Finland
France
French Guyana
Germany
Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Luxembourg
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Sources: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (www.iglhrc.org)
Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
The Following Countries Offer Immigration Benefits
To Same-Sex Couples:
Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Israel
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Romania
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
U.K.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_equality
If you’re a gay or lesbian, Canada is a terrific place to live. I can now marry a same-sex partner if I find someone to settle down with. Toronto is very cosmopolitan. Different races and ethnic groups mix more easily than in the States and that’s really nice. Interracial couples raise absolutely no eyebrows here either.
Scandinavia is the most equality-focused region of the world that I know of, whether it concerns gender, race, age or sexual orientation. Gay marriage has been on the law books here for many years. The politicians fight amongst themselves over who gets the biggest billing in the Pride parade every year, and virtually all parties are working for the LGBT vote. This has led to full integration into Danish society, which means that there are not the gay ghettos and huge number of LGBT clubs/bars that you find in large U.S. cities, which is a bit of a surprise to some LGBT people who move here. Nevertheless, Copenhagen and the other big Scandinavian cities all have a full array of bars and clubs for LGBT people. In Denmark, there is even a group for expats, called Pangea (www.lbl.dk/2538/) that offers LGBT newcomers an introduction and a startup social network. I met my partner, who is Danish, while I was living in Sweden.
Unfortunately, it is still legal to fire someone from a job for their sexual preference and gays have no legal protections in Korea.
While many lesbians go to the hill (“Homo Hill” in Seoul), the dedicated lesbian bars are very hidden, and strictly women only.
One person’s pastime is another country’s felony. Thanks in large measure to the War on Drugs, Americans represent 5% of the global population but U.S. prisons hold a quarter of the world’s inmates. Not every government thinks this is the optimal way to run a society and many have passed laws to that effect. Other countries, such as India, Morocca, Egypt and Thailand, have harsh drug penalties but lax enforcement, and cannabis, hashish and sometimes even opium are widely smoked.
But of course, squalid jail time and usurious fines are not unheard of. If you want to get a good overview of global drug laws and prefer the wonky stuff, the International Hard Reduction Association (www.ihra.net) keeps pretty good tabs on who’s doing what. For the view from the street, the stoners/reporters at webehigh.com give the ganja lowdown in cities and countries around the world. The vaults of Erowid (www.erowid.org) also can provide valuable information, particularly as it relates to the more mind-expanding end of the pharmacology spectrum.
On August 25, 2009, the Argentine Supreme Court ruled that imposing criminal penalties on citizens for the personal possession of drugs is unconstitutional. Word on the street is that decriminalization for personal use is not far away.
Two separate legislative measures, enacted in 2002 and 2006, have led to the partial decriminalization of drug possession for personal use. Instead of prison sentences, defendants are now given the option of treatment and community service.
Czech Republic
Check out what’s considered a legal stash (worst case scenario, a fine):
Amphetamine: 2 grams or less
Hashish: 5 grams or less
Cannabis: 15 grams or less
Heroin: 1.5 grams or less
Cocaine: 1 gram or less
LSD: 5 tabs or less
Ecstasy: 4 tablets or less
Methamphetamine: 2 grams or less
Hallucinogenic Mushrooms: 40 pieces or less
Mexico
In 2009, Mexico nixed all criminal penalties for personal possession/use. (e.g. up to five grams of cannabis, half a gram of cocaine, and one-tenth of a gram of heroin). Those found in possession will now be offered treatment instead of jail.
The Netherlands
While Holland still pursues a laid-back, harm reduction model against minor drug offenses, lately there has been some pushback against the proliferation of coffee shops and the government is seeking to limit the number of pot clubs in operation, and non-residents will be increasingly restricted from buying Dutch cannabis over the counter.
Portugal
No criminal penalties for purchase, possession and use of any drug. Period. Marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin—doesn’t matter. As long as it’s for personal use (defined as a 10-day supply).
Uruguay
Uruguay never really ever outlawed drugs for personal use to begin with. Judges have latitude, but ordinary users are not given penalties.
Where pot smokers are seldom, if ever, prosecuted (countries in bold have no criminal penalties for personal use):
| Argentina | Mexico |
| Australia* | Netherlands |
| Belgium | Portugal |
| Canada | Spain |
| Colombia | United Kingdom |
| Czech Republic | Uruguay |
| Germany | Venezuela |
| Luxembourg |
*cannabis laws vary by state
Good luck getting the U.S. State Department to care if you’re busted in...
China: China has a zero-tolerance policy for drug possession/use and a flexible approach to capital offenses. An estimated 68 different crimes can result in execution, including drug offenses. Possession of even small amounts will land you in a police-run rehabilitation center that is hardly distinguishable from a forced labor camp.
Iran: As the nation tries to squelch a growing addiction problem, hanging of drug offenders is becoming the regime’s deterrent of choice. Between May–June 2010 another 30 narcotics offenders were put to death for trafficking in marijuana, cocaine, opium, and methamphetamine.
Malaysia: Malaysia’s drug laws are merciless. Over 100 people, roughly a third of them foreigners, have been hanged in Malaysia for drug offenses since the nation’s mandatory death sentence for trafficking was introduced over two decades ago.
Saudi Arabia: Should you be convicted of the import, manufacture, possession, or consumption of illegal drugs, or much else that most of the Western world considers fun, you will face an array of harsh penalties that may include a lengthy prison stay, an exorbitant fine, deportation, and possibly a public flogging. If you are convicted of drug trafficking, the penalty is death and there are no exceptions.
Singapore: Newly arriving visitors to the Republic are given forms by immigration authorities that say “Warning. Death for Drug Traffickers under Singapore Law.” Anyone found in possession of more than 15 grams of cannabis or three grams of cocaine is presumed to be a trafficker which merits a mandatory death sentence. Casual users are jailed. The fortunate ones get off with a mere caning.
United Arab Emirates: Despite its liberal Gulf State reputation, the UAE tolerates not the slightest iota of drugs. Most notoriously, a British tourist was given a four-year prison sentence after high-tech scanning equipment detected a mite-sized speck of marijuana (0.03g) on the bottom of his shoe as he passed through customs. Even over-the-counter medications and doctor-prescribed pills can get you arrested.
One thing that has reduced the crime rate is that Portugal decriminalized drugs, and when someone is caught with them, they help them get to a free rehab program instead of throwing them in jail. I have read articles stating that this country has the highest success rate in eliminating drug problems.
I think most people in the U.S. have a skewed view of Singapore. The laws don’t affect me at all. There are two things going on here: while Singapore IS very strict on punishment for certain things like drug trafficking and violent crime, you will find that in day-to-day life you will feel a sense of freedom that you can’t imagine in the U.S. The first thing going on is that Singapore is not a police state like the U.S. is—you will hardly ever even see a police officer, and yet crime rates are almost non-existent here (no crime doesn’t mean no crime though, as they like to remind you). Second, I perceive something of a double standard for expats vs. the local population—an expat is not going to get arrested for spitting on the street or smoking in the wrong place or jaywalking. Most people will just look away, or at the worst a security guard (not a cop) might ask you to modify your behavior. Also, if you were to get into some kind of trouble, the most likely first step is that they would simply deport you (very promptly) but this seems much better than being thrown in jail.
It’s VERY illegal to bring drugs into here, but that doesn’t affect me at all. If you’re American and coming to Hong Kong, keep the weed at home.
The following countries either prohibit liquor or severely limit any and all consumption:
 |
Afghanistan Bangladesh* Brunei* Iran Kuwait |
Libya Pakistan Saudi Arabia Sudan United Arab Emirates* |
*legal availability for non-Muslims
Alcohol is generally “not allowed” but at the same time “generally permitted.” That is only on the (expat) compound. Take stuff off compound and risk is all yours. Sell it off compound and the risk has just been amplified. Provide it or give it to the locals and there will be far more than hell to pay. Normally, companies will consider you a kite—when something like that happens, they cut your string and let the authorities handle you. If one is lucky, the company will get you deported without jail time.
Drinking and driving is dangerous anywhere, but here it is especially so, even if you don’t have an accident. Frequently there are random checkpoints set up throughout the city (including the Ring Road and main streets and sub main streets). It wouldn’t be a pretty thing to get caught at a checkpoint blitzed!
Over 120 countries have stricter gun control measures than the strictest gun control states in the U.S. and less than a handful have more liberal policies than your average Red State. Regardless of whether you believe that guns kill people or people kill people, knowing the facts about who’s allowed to pack heat and how much there is of it around is critical info. The Free Existence Index of Worldwide Gun Rights (www.freeexistence.org) has an impressive online database of gun laws from around the world, in case you’re thinking about spraying some lead abroad...or trying to avoid other people who do. Also, the Small Arms Survey (www.smallarmssurvey.org) keeps track of where the guns are...and aren’t.
Countries With More Gun Freedom Than Any U.S. State
Bolivia
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Source: freeexistence.org
Strictest Gun Control Laws
China
Luxembourg
Solomon Islands
Timor
Uganda
Uzbekistan
Kuwait
Iran
Vietnam
Korea (South)
Taiwan
Venezuela
Hong Kong
Singapore
United Kingdom
From My Cold, Dead Hands:
Top Gun-Owning Countries
Guns per 100 residents
| U.S. | 88.8 |
| Yemen | 54.8 |
| Switzerland | 45.7 |
| Finland | 45.3 |
| Serbia | 37.8 |
| Cyprus | 36.4 |
| Saudi Arabia | 35.0 |
| Iraq | 34.2 |
| Uruguay | 31.8 |
| Sweden | 31.6 |
| Sweden | 31.6 |
| Norway | 31.3 |
| France | 31.2 |
| Canada | 30.8 |
| Iceland | 30.3 |
| Germany | 30.3 |
| Oman | 25.4 |
| Bahrain | 24.8 |
| Kuwait | 24.8 |
| Macedonia | 24.1 |
Source: www.smallarmssurvey.org
Happiness. Isn’t that what it’s really all about in the end? So all right, your line of thinking might go, ‘to find the best country to live in, why not just see where the people are happiest?’ Sure, but concepts such as happiness and life satisfaction are a bit more elusive than Gross Domestic Product when it comes to both defining and quantifying them. Not that that’s stopped numerous well-funded efforts from trying to do just that. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (www.oecd.org) keeps its survey feelers out to gauge happiness among its member states and they, no surprise, conclude that it pretty well correlates with, er, Gross Domestic Product (well, national affluence, anyway). The Happy Planet Index (www.happyplanetindex.org) looks at human well-being in relation to their connection to environment and ecological footprint. Their ranking metrics put the Latin American countries, Costa Rica in particular, on top, while much of the so-called “developed” world vacillates between glum and miserable, once you factor in how much pollution and resource exploitation they’re generating just to keep their spirits up. The World Database of Happiness at Erasmus University, Rotterdam (worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl) offers a “continuous register of scientific research on subjective appreciation of life” and ranks around 150 countries on various measures of their per capita joie de vivre.
The Happiest Places on Earth:
Countries With Higher “Happiness Index” Than the U.S.
| Brazil | 7.5 |
| New Zealand | 7.5 |
| Venezuela | 7.5 |
| Austria | 7.6 |
| Dominican Republic | 7.6 |
| Ireland | 7.6 |
| Netherlands | 7.6 |
| Australia | 7.7 |
| Colombia | 7.7 |
| Luxembourg | 7.7 |
| Canada | 7.8 |
| Panama | 7.8 |
| Sweden | 7.8 |
| Finland | 7.9 |
| Mexico | 7.9 |
| Norway | 7.9 |
| Switzerland | 8.0 |
| Iceland | 8.2 |
| Denmark | 8.3 |
| Costa Rica | 8.5 |
Source: Veenhoven, R., World Database of Happiness, Erasmus University Rotterdam
