Retiring abroad/Table

This table provides some background information for our article on Retiring abroad.

Only approximate

This article was created in 2014 and is not often updated. It may not be entirely accurate today, and is certainly not complete; it is intended only as a general overview.
For anything you are seriously concerned about, you should do your own more detailed research.

It was started from Wikipedia's List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita which gives four sets of estimates from various sources. Only one, the UN estimate, is used here. It is shown in the GDP column, in US $. The 30 most expensive countries have been removed. The figure is the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year, per inhabitant.

The Global Peace Index[dead link] (GPI) gives numeric scores, of peace levels, where 1.0 would be ideal and a higher score indicates problems. In the 2017 data for 163 countries, the seventeen best scores are between 1.1 and 1.5 while the thirteen worst are between 3.0 and 3.8. The table shows 2013 scores in the GPI column. A few of the most dangerous countries have been removed. The same organisation also has reports on terrorism and ecological threats.

The Social Progress Index ( (SPI) tries to measure the overall level of good living for a population, using a 0-100 scale. In the 2014 results for 132 countries, the six lowest scores were in the 30s and the top 23 were in the 80s. Some of these scores are in the SPI column.

The next two columns indicate whether the country offers a retirement visa and if so, funds required, amounts in US $:

  • Monthly: amount needed.
  • Deposit: lump sum needed up front

Some retirees should check the legal status of activities they might engage in. The Wikivoyage articles on LGBT travel and Cannabis and Wikipedia on prostitution laws are starting points for some issues. However for anything that is a serious concern you should do your own more detailed research.

Table edit

Note that you can sort the table on any column, in ascending or descending order, by clicking on the little arrows in the column header.

This table is just for preliminarily finding interesting countries. You should check legal and economic issues by yourself before choosing where to go – they might have changed, and there may be specifics relevant to you.

Rank Country Statistics Financial (Visa)
GDP GPI SPI Monthly Deposit
British Virgin Islands 32,375
31 Spain 29,278 1.57 81
Puerto Rico 28,021
32 Cyprus 26,462 1.94
French Polynesia 26,113
33 Saudi Arabia 25,136 2.47
Aruba 24,832
34 Oman 23,570 1.98
35 South Korea 23,052 1.82 77
36 Bahrain 23,039 2.40
Turks and Caicos 22,488
37 Greece 22,377 2.00 73
38 Slovenia 21,847 1.36
39 Bahamas 21,624
40 Malta 20,514
Anguilla 20,048
41 Portugal 20,006 1.26 80
42 Equatorial Guinea 19,680 1.93
43 Czech Republic 18,428 1.36 80
Netherlands Antilles 18,360
44 Trinidad and Tobago 17,365 2.10 70
45 Estonia 17,335 1.71
46 Slovakia 16,774 1.61
47 Barbados 16,000
49 Chile 15,363 1.60 76
Cook Islands 14,918
50 Gabon 14,747 2.05
51 Uruguay 14,703 1.71 78 800
52 Saint Kitts and Nevis 14,267
54 Lithuania 13,984 1.73
55 Latvia 13,773 1.67
56 Antigua and Barbuda 13,207
57 Croatia 13,105 1.67
58 Poland 12,820 1.68 77
Montserrat 12,774
59 Venezuela 12,767 2.65
60 Hungary 12,490 1.49 74
61 Kazakhstan 12,445 1.99
62 Nauru 12,022
63 Argentina 11,610 1.88
64 Brazil 11,347 2.20
65 Seychelles 11,164
66 Turkey 10,653 2.78
67 Malaysia 10,422 1.64 70 1500
68 Palau 10,271
69 Mexico 9,795 2.65 66 1000
70 Panama 9,534 1.84 73 1000
71 Costa Rica 9,387 1.70
72 Suriname 9,376
73 Mauritius 9,238 1.55
74 Lebanon 9,143 2.78
75 Romania 7,787 1.60
76 Colombia 7,752 2.78
77 Maldives 7,700
78 Grenada 7,418
79 Azerbaijan 7,383 2.43
80 South Africa 7,336 2.32 63
81 Saint Lucia 7,289
82 Iran 7,217 2.47
83 Botswana 7,191 1.62
84 Bulgaria 7,004 1.63
85 Dominica 6,958
86 Peru 6,825 1.99
87 Belarus 6,726 2.14
88 Montenegro 6,514 1.95
89 Turkmenistan 6,469 2.27
90 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 6,349
91 Cuba 6,301 2.06
92 China 6,070 2.24
93 Thailand 5,775 2.29 65 1500
94 Dominican Republic 5,731 2.11
95 Namibia 5,668 1.84
96 Ecuador 5,648 1.95 68 800 -
97 Angola 5,586 2.12
98 Algeria 5,380 2.20
99 Jamaica 5,343 2.07
100 Serbia 5,315 1.89
101 East Timor 4,835
102 Belize 4,795 2000
103 Fiji 4,572
105 North Macedonia 4,548 2.13
106 Bosnia and Herzegovina 4,517 2.04
107 Tonga 4,429
108 Jordan 4,414 2.09
109 Tunisia 4,150 1.98
110 Tuvalu 4,042
111 Paraguay 3,878 1.96 64
112 Ukraine 3,872 3.18
113 Cape Verde 3,850
114 Albania 3,809 1.91
115 El Salvador 3,790 2.24
116 Marshall Islands 3,773
117 Mongolia 3,673 1.80
118 Georgia 3,632 2.08
119 Samoa 3,607
120 Guyana 3,585 2.02
121 Indonesia 3,557 1.85 59
122 Republic of the Congo 3,404 2.33
123 Armenia 3,351 2.22
124 Guatemala 3,340 2.25 61 1000
125 Micronesia 3,165
126 Eswatini 3,137 2.01
127 Egypt 3,115 2.58
128 Vanuatu 3,040
129 Morocco 2,952 2.00
130 Sri Lanka 2,816 2.02 60 1500
131 Kosovo 2,813 2.01
132 Philippines 2,587 2.56 66 800 10,000
133 Bolivia 2,576 2.05 63
134 Bhutan 2,509 1.47
136 Honduras 2,339 2.19
137 Papua New Guinea 2,187 2.10
139 Moldova 2,064 1.94
140 Solomon Islands 1,837
141 Uzbekistan 1,801 2.13
141 Nicaragua 1,754 2.00
142 Kiribati 1,745
143 Vietnam 1,716 1.92
144 Ghana 1,605 1.79
145 Djibouti 1,583 2.20
146 Nigeria 1,555 2.85
147 Zambia 1,527 1.79
148 India 1,516 2.54 50
149 São Tomé and Príncipe 1,386
152 Laos 1,369 1.80 52
154 Cameroon 1,202 2.39
155 Pakistan 1,578 3.06 34
156 Lesotho 1,191 2.07
157 Kyrgyzstan 1,183 2.22
158 Myanmar 1,126 2.18
159 Mauritania 1,018 2.36
160 Senegal 1,017 1.93
161 Tajikistan 953 2.26
162 Cambodia 944 2.07 52
163 Kenya 943 2.34
165 Comoros 858
166 Bangladesh 822 2.04 52
167 Chad 818 2.50
168 Benin 752 2.01
169 Sierra Leone 725 1.76
170 Zimbabwe 718 2.35
171 Haiti 706 2.03
172 Mali 691 2.60
174 Nepal 656 2.08 52
175 Burkina Faso 649 2.07
176 Rwanda 620 2.23
177 Tanzania 608 1.88
178 Uganda 598 2.18
179 Togo 590 1.94
181 Mozambique 579 2.01
Zanzibar 565
182 Guinea 532 2.09
183 Gambia 512 2.21
184 Guinea-Bissau 510 2.31
185 Eritrea 507 2.51
186 Central African Republic 483 3.21
187 Madagascar 447 1.80 44
188 Niger 395 2.34
189 Liberia 356 2.02
190 Malawi 355 1.83