Our Annual Retirement Index: All the Scores and How It’s Scored

Our Annual Retirement Index: How It’s Scored

• Real Estate. Countries where real estate prices are low and the purchase of real estate is relatively easy receive the highest scores. We use our own experiences, plus reports from our contributing editors and from real estate contacts around the world, to rate each country. Weight in Index: 15%

• Special Benefits. This category considers government provisions that make moving to and living in each country easier and more affordable for foreign retirees. Taken into account are discounts on health care, public transport, airfares, entertainment, utilities, whether you can import goods duty free, property rights for foreign residents, and property tax rates. Weight in Index: 20%

• Cost of Living. This score is based on statistics from the Indexes of Living Costs Abroad, Quarter Allowances, and Hardship Differentials, published by the U. S. Department of State. We also use our first-hand experiences living and traveling in these countries. The lower the score, the higher the cost of living. Weight: 20%

• Culture. To calculate this score, we look at literacy rates, education as a percentage of GDP, the number of UNESCO sites per square kilometer, and a subjective rating of the variety of cultural and recreational offerings. Weight in Index: 10%

• Health Care. Considered in this category are the cost of a typical visit to a general practitioner and the cost and coverage particulars of health insurance. Also considered are the number of people per doctor, the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people, the percentage of the population with access to safe water, the infant mortality rate, life expectancy, and public health expenditure as a percentage of a country’s GDP. Weight in Index: 20%

• Infrastructure. We look at the length of railways, paved highways, and navigable waterways in each country, and compare them to each country’s population and size. We also consider the number of airports, motor vehicles, telephones, Internet service providers, and cell phones per capita. Weight in Index: 5%

• Safety and Stability. This measure of unrest in each country is based primarily on Interpol data and U.S. State Department statistics. It also takes into account the civil liberties and political rights granted by each government. Our own experiences and reports from expatriates living in these countries also influence the safety scores. Weight in Index: 5%

• Climate. Countries with temperate weather throughout the year, moderate rain fall, and little risk of natural disaster come out on top in this category. We use data representing each country as a whole instead of favoring one region over another. Weight in Index: 5%

The Retirement Index 2011

Country	Real Estate	Special Benefits	Cost of Living	Culture	Health	Infra.	Safety Stability	Climate	Total
Ecuador	100	95	80	83	74	26	82	96	84
Mexico	94	90	71	93	69	50	78	99	82
Panama	93	100	69	73	70	71	93	45	81
Spain	90	65	62	97	92	70	100	76	80
New Z.	96	55	69	92	91	65	100	85	79
France	75	60	58	100	100	80	100	88	78
Uruguay	94	76	67	75	77	52	100	94	78
Costa Rica	95	76	73	81	76	29	96	76	77
Malta	79	72	60	94	83	61	93	100	77
Italy	85	65	54	97	90	62	100	88	77
Chile	95	87	68	75	75	45	79	48	76
Argentina	92	60	72	83	76	57	100	94	76
Portugal	72	74	65	71	86	59	100	94	76
Ireland	78	80	51	84	85	65	100	73	75
Colombia	98	67	72	72	75	44	69	92	74
Brazil	92	74	73	75	57	44	89	80	73
Malaysia	96	62	77	72	67	53	86	43	72
Australia	57	69	55	83	82	61	100	83	70
Belize	83	78	75	63	63	11	74	62	69
Nicaragua	98	60	82	51	62	14	75	61	68
Thailand	92	45	77	78	72	32	79	24	67
Dom Rep	97	60	76	61	50	28	79	58	66
Honduras	97	50	76	61	45	13	79	83	64

 

*****************************************************************

Sign up for our FREE report on the world’s top retirement havens in 2011.

Simply enter your e-mail below to subscribe to International Living’s free daily e-letter and we’ll immediately send your free report–International Living’s 2011 Retirement Index–The World’s Top 10 Retirement Havens.