Those international “best places to retire” surveys typically point to warm, low-cost countries in Central and South America. But, in some ways, beautiful northern places like Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland could also be even higher.
That’s my conclusion after poring over the 2024 World Happiness Report, the Natixis 2023 Global Retirement Index and the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2023, in addition to talking to their creators.
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And after vacationing in Norway where I talked with an old friend who’s a semi-retired U.S. expat married to a retired Norwegian, I got here away much more persuaded that you simply might want to contemplate the Nordic region in case you’re interested by retiring abroad.
Really.
‘I’m pleased to pay my taxes’
“To me, Norway is a magical place,” my pal Nina Berglund, a digital editor and former Californian, said. “We’ve good pensions and I feel thoroughly taken care of here. But we even have contributed loads [in taxes] in fact.”
Added her husband Morten Most, a retired journalist: “You regularly hear Norwegians say, ‘I’m pleased to pay my taxes,’ and to a certain extent that’s true due to expectation that your taxes will probably be price it.”
Those steep Norwegian sales taxes, an annual wealth tax of 1.1% on assets over $160,000 and the national Norwegian Oil Fund help pay for government-provided retirement pensions plus nearly free health care, long-term care and college educations. Employers must provide pensions, too.
In Norway, Berglund said, in case you need home care or a nursing home, “the whole lot is roofed.” The copay for a physician’s appointment is around $25, she noted. Hospital stays, X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans are mostly covered by government health care.
Retirees living in Norway only pay taxes on income they earn there (22% to 39%). There’s no inheritance tax and property taxes are low by U.S. standards.
“I don’t feel stressed in any respect,” said Most. “Time flies very fast. I actually have a very good retirement.”
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High rankings for retirement and happiness amongst people 60+
Indeed, Norway ranked No. 1 in Natixis’ Global Retirement Index for the third straight yr. That index measures retirement security by health, funds in retirement, quality of life and material wellbeing.
Norway was also the third happiest country for people 60 and older within the World Happiness Report, based on residents’ assessments of their lives. Denmark topped the World Happiness Report and the U.S. ranked No. 10.
Together with nearby Sweden, Norway scored a B within the Global Pension Index, calculated by crunching data on the adequacy, sustainability and integrity of every nation’s retirement income system. Denmark nailed an A.
Some Nordic countries are remarkably secure, too. In Numbeo’s 2024 Global Safety Index, Iceland ranked 18, Denmark 20, Finland 23, Norway 39; the USA is 88.
What makes the countries rating so well
Why do Scandinavian countries of Norway, Denmark and Sweden plus Nordic ones like Finland and Iceland consistently show up so well in these kind of surveys?
Countries at the highest of the World Happiness rankings, said John Helliwell, a lead researcher for that study, are well-off and folks have “good connections, high trust and high caring for one another.”
“I are likely to think that it’s the holistic view of things they’ve,” said David Goodsell, executive director of the worldwide research program, Natixis Center for Investor Insight, which publishes the Global Retirement Index. “In the event you’re not nervous about your healthcare or about wanting to [afford to] return to highschool in retirement,” he added, “those things are going to affect how you’re feeling.”
David Knox, who heads up Mercer’s Global Pension Index, cites what he calls the “social compact” of those countries between their residents in addition to between the residents and their governments.
“Each generation expects to support, after which receive from, the following generation,” he said. “It’s a less individualistic society” than in the USA, Knox added.
Two other aspects Goodsell cited: stable economies and small populations — combined, Nordic countries have fewer people than Canada.
When setting retirement policies, said Knox, “I believe it’s easier for a comparatively smaller country to say: ‘That is what we’re going to do.’”
Employers are likely to be paternalistic in Nordic countries, too, which helps in retirement. “In Denmark, greater than 80% of the working-age population has a pension account,” said Knox. “That’s much higher than in America.”
Good retirement systems, pleased residents
Knox isn’t surprised that many Scandinavian and Nordic countries rating so well in each the World Happiness Report and his Global Pension Index.
As people approach retirement, he said, if their government is under pressure financially, “they could worry, ‘Will they cut the state pension and might I afford to retire?’ But when I’m in a system like Norway, which has the boldness of the Oil Fund, there’s a component of ‘I’m pleased I’m going to retire here’ and that there will probably be support from the federal government, whether it’s in pensions or health care or whatever.”
Absent from ‘best places to retire’ rankings
Interestingly, the annual Best Places to Retire surveys from International Living and Live and Invest Overseas don’t even include Nordic countries of their rankings. I asked their creators why.
Donal Lucey, head of digital content at International Living, cited the price of living which, he said, “will be prohibitive for retirees.”
It’s true that gasoline and groceries will be high in that a part of the world, but rents are significantly lower in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm than Latest York City, based on Numbeo.
Lucey called visa and residency requirements in Nordic countries “stringent,” since these nations don’t have retirement visa programs like in Portugal and Mexico.
“U.S. retirees would want to navigate complex immigration laws,” said Lucey. “And without significant financial means, securing long-term residency will be difficult,” he said. In Norway, it takes three years to change into a resident.
Live and Invest Overseas publisher Kathleen Peddicord said: “My quick, possibly flippant, response is that we don’t speak about that region since the weather is awful and the price of the whole lot may be very high.”
“As a retiree shopping the world map for options for where to live higher on whatever budget you’ve got,” she added, “you’ve got many higher selections than those cold, dark, overpriced countries in Northern Europe that don’t really need you there anyway.”
That’s something of an overstatement.
Cold? Often, but not in the summertime. “I really like the change of seasons,” said Berglund. “We’re still very lively. We go skiing.” But, she conceded, “winter for a lot of elderly, and a number of Norwegians, may be very hard.”
Dark? Yes, in some parts of the yr, but not others.
Don’t want you there? That wasn’t my experience as a tourist, nor what I heard from my expat friend and her husband.
It helps, nonetheless, to live by what the Danish call “hygge” — having fun with the easy pleasures in life.
Advice for pre-retirees
World Happiness Report researcher Halliwell said that as an alternative of on the lookout for an ideal place on this planet to retire, visit among the happiest countries to see what explains that feeling after which attempt to emulate it after returning home.
“Apply the Nordic lessons where you already live,” he said. “It shouldn’t be about where you may get probably the most bang on your buck.”