Norway, Switzerland Top 25 Best Countries To Retire In; Surprise For US, UK, China

Norway and Switzerland have been ranked as the top two countries where senior citizens can have the best dreamed retirement in the world.

With an overall score of 81%, Norway comes in at number one, while Switzerland comes second, scoring 80%, according to 2022 Natixis Global Retirement Index, published by Visual Capitalist.

The index considers 18 factors, which are grouped into four overarching categories: Health, Quality of Life, Material Wellbeing and Finances in Retirement.

While economic and geopolitical powers like US and UK are likely to have surprised many by ranking 18 and 19 respectively, China and Russia were conspicuously missing on the list of retirement-friendly countries.

Also no African country made the cut as the list was dominated by Western nations.

According to the report, Norway is at the top of this year’s ranking for several reasons as it achieved the highest score in the Health category, largely because of its high average life expectancy, which is 83 years old, or 9 years longer than the global average.

“Norway also has the highest score of all the countries for Governance, a category gauged by assessing country corruption levels, political stability, and government effectiveness, and is in a three-way tie with Japan and Luxembourg in the Health category.

“Second on the list is another European country, Switzerland, with an overall score of 80%. It’s the highest-ranked country for environmental factors, and it also has the highest overall score in the Finances in Retirement category.”

The top 25 countries for retirement were listed in the order of their ranking as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Canada, Israel, South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Slovenia, Japan, Malta, France and Estonia.

The report added that ranking countries on retirement-friendly index becomes necessary as the global population is getting older, saying by 2050, the OECD predicts that 30% of people worldwide will be aged 65 or over.

“While some countries are relatively prepared to handle this increase in the elderly demographic, others are already feeling the squeeze and struggling with the challenges that come with a rapidly aging population.”