How to Find the Best Quality of Life Before Moving Abroad

By Volker Poelzl

The Jardin de Luxembourg park in the middle of Paris is a great place to relax.

People move abroad for a variety of reasons; for work, study, retirement, business, etc. But what most of us have in common is ultimately the search for a better quality of life and the type of experience that we would not be able to have at home. Figuring out which foreign country best matches our lifestyle and interests is no easy task, but if you are a bit methodical in your selection process it should not be too difficult to narrow down the number of countries. Quality of life means different things to different people, so before selecting a destination you should determine what is important to you.

Which Qualities Are Most Important to You?

Is safety an important issue, a pristine natural environment, a good public education system, a low cost of living, or some other primary consideration? Once you figure out the nature of the quality of life you would wish your host country to provide it will be much easier to narrow down the number of countries of interest. But there are so many aspects of daily life in a foreign country that it is difficult to prioritize. For example, should you choose safety over a pleasant climate or a good public health system over a low cost of living? These are difficult choices to make, but if you do not mind doing a little bit of research there are several studies and surveys about the quality of life in cities and countries all over the world that can help you with your decision-making process.

Surveys on the Quality of Life Overseas

One survey which I have found useful is the “Quality of life index,” published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, part of The Economist magazine. The index includes data from 70 countries and territories and is based upon several quality-of-life factors, including: material wellbeing, health, political stability and security, family life, community life, climate and geography, job security, political freedom, and gender equality.

Finally, crowd-sourced sites, with data provided by users, such as numbeo.com provide a sortable quality of life index, with a strong U.S. bias in its results relative to other such international surveys, as well as other information about relative costs of living around the world.

The Value of Research

What makes the many quality of life surveys available on the web — each with their biases — valuable for would-be expatriates is the fact that they consider a wide variety of vital factors that contribute to the quality of life of the surveyed destinations.

When I lived abroad in Europe, South America, and the Pacific, all the survey’s criteria sooner or later played an important role in my day-to-day life. For example, most of us take the availability of consumer goods for granted, but when I lived in the Brazilian Amazon I could not get a replacement hard drive for my Apple computer. I also still remember vividly how courteous the police were in New Zealand when they caught me for the second time speeding on a motorcycle without a driver’s license. I also remember Election Day in Brazil, when all the workers at the coffee plantation I was in managing disappeared for their constitutionally guaranteed day off in order to travel to their home towns where they could vote. 

By looking at the various survey criteria you might discover some aspects of living abroad that you had not thought about before. Have you considered crime statistics in your research about your favorite expatriate destinations, political freedom, or gender equality? Taking a close look at the various survey criteria can be very helpful in your own decision-making process, and you will quickly recognize which aspects of life in another country you like best and which factors are most important to you. A country may have a higher crime rate than your home country, but the cost of living and the country’s magnificent natural environment may outweigh this drawback.

If you are interested in digging deeper into statistical figures, you should check out the annual OECD Factbook, published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The publication includes a “Quality of Life” section, with categories that are similar to the other surveys previously discussed, such as health, leisure, society, and transportation.

Still, before you make any major decision you would be wise to think about how to choose a country best for you and then to take a fact-finding trip before moving abroad

Volker Poelzl is a Living Abroad Contributing Editor for TransitionsAbroad.com. He has traveled in over 40 countries worldwide and has lived in ten of them for study, research and work.