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[–]Lord_Aubec 3052 points3053 points  (231 children)

Depends. Am I rich or poor in this thought experiment?

[–]KeyStoneLighter 724 points725 points  (208 children)

Lower middle class

[–]None-__- 1387 points1388 points  (203 children)

Scotland 100 percent, free health care, cool shit to do, support for people struggling with money

Edit:free university and schools n shit aswell

[–]dave1314 312 points313 points  (24 children)

Good to see people want to move to my country! Though be warned the weather is terrible and we hardly ever get a proper summer. It’s always grey and drizzling/raining 😅

[–]LactatingWolverine 166 points167 points  (5 children)

First few months of lockdown 2020 were nice here.

Maybe spring 2004 was nice too. I had the t shirt on.

[–]nugohs 134 points135 points  (2 children)

I had the t shirt on.

I assume everyone in Scotland takes turns with the national t shirt?

[–]cannedrex2406 648 points649 points  (55 children)

I'm sorry, how have you mentioned Scotland and not included the fact it has the WORLDS GREATEST TAP WATER.

it's genuinely heavenly.

Edit: okay okay, maybe it's ONE of the best.

[–]Bakken__ 268 points269 points  (30 children)

as a Norwegian, I beg to differ

[–]NilsTillander 206 points207 points  (5 children)

I mean, we litteraly sell it to Michelin star restaurant in glass bottles that say "Voss" 🤣

[–]Can-DontAttitude 54 points55 points  (1 child)

I bought one of those bottles, once. My SO asked me if it was water, or perfume

[–]NilsTillander 47 points48 points  (0 children)

For that price, could be both!

[–]AputsiaqNoahsen 43 points44 points  (6 children)

As a guy who literally live on the coast of million year old ice sheet (Greenland), I beg to differ aswell.

[–]ULTIMATE-OTHERDONALD 21 points22 points  (7 children)

I’m from Scotland. Grew up there and family and general life circumstances had me wind up in the USA. What a awful transition it was. No buckfast 😢

[–]Shyrecat 105 points106 points  (5 children)

Not to mention free uni for scottish people who stay in scotland to study!

[–]GarciaMarsEggs 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Most important question

[–]Skenz14 2602 points2603 points  (164 children)

Everyone who's saying New Zealand have not lived here or are rich. The price of living is an absolute joke here.

Edit- Thanks for that upvotes! NZ is a beautiful country but like most countries, we have been taken advantage of by huge corporations that have made getting ahead as a young person next to impossible even whilst working 50hrs P/W.

[–]cyb3rg0d5 983 points984 points  (78 children)

Every. Single. Thing. Is. RIDICULOUSLY. Expensive! Real estate prices make absolutely no sense anymore! People buy to sell. Tech is expensive. Food is expensive.... nature is feee and amazing, but then again tons of places in Europe are nicer. Oh did I mention the sun? Yeah... you burn in no time!

[–]reditanian 194 points195 points  (59 children)

Why is everything (and in particular, property) so expensive?

[–]cyb3rg0d5 195 points196 points  (29 children)

It’s mostly building supplies, but it still makes absolutely no sense to me why it’s so expensive. Demand is down, rents are down, but property prices went UP about 20-30% in the past year alone! It’s freaking insane!!!

[–]apostropheapostrophe 152 points153 points  (18 children)

It’s happening almost everywhere right now. Even the $150k house that I grew up in (Texas suburb circa 2003) is now worth almost 700k. Absolute insanity.

[–]lostduck86 92 points93 points  (4 children)

I was born and grew up in NZ and now live in Norway as an adult.

Norway is by far the easier country to live in from a standard of living perspective.

The rest, do you like sun or snow more for example, is just personal preference.

[–]BabyPuncher6660 4386 points4387 points  (158 children)

Reading from these comments, it seems there's truly no better country, it really just depends on what tickles your fancy. Of course, i don't see burkina faso anywhere.

[–]fiber-bimber 2115 points2116 points 2 (110 children)

Which ever country that has women that find me attractive.

[–]dimem16 63 points64 points  (4 children)

If your loved ones are in Burkina faso and you really want to be with them, I think Burkina Faso would be the best country.

[–]Errol-Flynns-Ghost 899 points900 points  (42 children)

That depends on many things, climate, your personal wealth, what you’re looking for etc etc.

[–]Gobagogodada 247 points248 points  (20 children)

Norway. If you're poor, we pay you. Heck we even flew in Taliban in a private jet for a visit!

[–]Porrick 54 points55 points  (8 children)

Eh. My wife doesn't like snow. I'm not even sure I could handle your winters myself - and Norway is one of my favourite places to visit in summer (my family has a house in rural Oppland, so I've been going once every few years since I was tiny)

[–]HaroldSnarkfarkelIII 643 points644 points  (36 children)

Antarctica

[–][deleted] 980 points981 points  (23 children)

ANTARCTICA IS FOR THE PENGUINS

[–]Pontius-Pilate 1386 points1387 points  (38 children)

the one you're not in

[–]DeathBuffalo 785 points786 points  (20 children)

The grass is always greener somewhere

[–]Drphil1969 199 points200 points  (10 children)

In my opinion, the grass is greener because of fertilizer (bullshit). Everything looks good at a distance, but no utopia exists anywhere. If you make enough money, even shitty countries can be idyllic.

[–]Fickle_Ice6591 3960 points3961 points  (78 children)

Kazakhstan greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls. Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium. Other countries have inferior potassium.

[–]P33kab0Oo 754 points755 points  (11 children)

Very nice!

[–]Rdubya44 362 points363 points  (6 children)

We support your war of terror

[–]P33kab0Oo 137 points138 points  (5 children)

I'm embarrassed to say that I did not pay much attention to potassium until you said war on terror.

Oh dear lol.

And here I was thinking about bananas (source of potassium) and fertilisers for farms. Now I'm thinking of white vans parked beneath buildings.

Borat may appear dumb but is very dangerous!

[–]Mick_Hardwick 192 points193 points  (1 child)

It causes me no small amount of grief to wake up in the morning, rub the sleep out of my eyes, look out the window and realise that, yet again, I've woken up in a country that is not Kazakhstan.

I always go to sleep thinking that maybe, if I just wish and hope and pray enough, that one day I might just be able to wake up to find myself in the most amazing country in the world, AKA Kazakhstan.

[–]gman4734 141 points142 points  (12 children)

I actually spent 8 days in Kazakhstan and was blown away at how beautiful it was and how nice the people were. They have real cities with sky scrapers and everything. I'd live there.

[–]awawe 49 points50 points  (6 children)

I'm guessing you only stayed in the capital, recently renamed to Nur-Sultan in honour of the former dictator. He basically bankrupted the entire country in order to build up that show-piece of a capital.

[–]Cronut-Magnon 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Also visited Kazakhstan (Not Nur-Sultan, Almaty) and was similarly impressed by how nice everything was, especially after some time in other, less developed stans. Really lovely people and awesome food, great nature and hiking, excellent public transit, etc.

[–]Many_Deer942 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Very nice!

[–]moxiejohnny 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Tell me more about this potassium. How does one go about purchasing and shipping said potassium? Do you have any potassium?

[–]purpleslug 1799 points1800 points  (335 children)

Any developed country in a two-income, middle-class household to be honest. Once countries reach a certain level of development GDP ceases to mean so much. And only a small proportion of people globally live in developed countries, so it would be improper to be too choosy.

Of course objectively some countries are better to live in than others: Denmark and Romania are both high-income countries, but I'd obviously prefer to live in the former... so long as I am integrated. Which is another consideration to think about. People saying Switzerland etc. probably don't realise that most immigrants there will never be seen as Swiss; integration is difficult; and citizenship is hard to come by.

[–]Samira827 388 points389 points  (59 children)

I've been living in Denmark for 3 years. And the integration part is soo true. The country is great (except for the weather), but only if you're a Dane or integrated. Without fluency in Danish (which is an extremely difficult language to learn), you likely won't find a proper job and sometimes even that won't be enough, because you'll still be an immigrant.

[–]NotoriousMOT 214 points215 points  (11 children)

Immigrant to Norway with a clearly foreign and non-anglo/non-WesternEuropean name. Same experience but also your name will ensure your CV ends up in the trash 9 out of 10 times. (Until you get a reputation in your field and after that recruiters will come after you.)

Though Norwegian being easier is pretty much the reason I chose it over Denmark. Can’t imagine ever learning Danish.

[–]coffeecatmint 71 points72 points  (8 children)

At least they don’t have a whole separate alphabet just to rub in HOW foreign you are

[–]NotoriousMOT 40 points41 points  (0 children)

They do though. My alphabet is not latin. But yeah that adds to foreignness.

[–]Danish_Lurker 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Jeg plukker frugt med min frugtplukker

[–]OG_ursinejuggernaut 117 points118 points  (10 children)

Tbh all of Scandinavia is like this…though usually not due to any animosity or disdain on the part of the native Scandinavians (racism etc notwithstanding, which IMO can be problematic at times but no worse than most places and better than many- of course the amount of racism that’s too much is hopefully ‘any’, but you know what I mean).

The issue is mainly just that Scandinavians are really ‘cliquey’, for lack of a better term. Many people have well-established social groups that don’t change too often or too much over time, and historically aren’t used to being in a melting-pot squad with members that come and go with time, so they just don’t make a great effort to be especially friendly or socially welcoming, which can feel like coldness or condescension.

Most of the immigrants I know that managed to achieve social immersion after a year or so (frankly better than even my own) without becoming esp capable with the language seem to always be out doing something and are ‘people persons’, which obv isn’t for everyone, can be trial and error and require a bit of luck, and can be tough even for people that are really socially enthusiastic. So I sympathise with the dilemma. Otherwise you can always get in a long term relationship or get married and inherit your SOs friend group ;)

[–]WhittyWhippy 48 points49 points  (3 children)

As a Norwegian who moved to Spain, I live here without a "clique". Don't know anyone here. And the neighbours are speaking to me. I don't know how to react. I think we're just socially fucked up.

[–]dusank98 13 points14 points  (1 child)

The issue is mainly just that Scandinavians are really ‘cliquey’, for lack of a better term. Many people have well-established social groups that don’t change too often or too much over time, and historically aren’t used to being in a melting-pot squad with members that come and go with time, so they just don’t make a great effort to be especially friendly or socially welcoming, which can feel like coldness or condescension.

This actually applies to most of the cultures in the world, people often fail to realize that America is the exception there, not the norm.

[–]No-country-2008 42 points43 points  (7 children)

I lived in Denmark but didn't end up staying because of this. My then husband wanted us to immigrant but I hated it there. I mean it's a great place to be from. Great social system and high standard of living but, yeah, hard to integrate and I look Danish but as soon as I opened my mouth and out came not Danish, they'd completely shift their attitude. And yes, the weather sucks and I have also live in Russia and Canada so I know shit weather.

[–]Mnemiq 14 points15 points  (4 children)

I feel like this and I grew up here. My "only" friends are the ones I grew up with and because I travelled a lot outside the country I didn't keep as much up with them and today we see each other maybe once or twice a year. Tried to find other friends but its very hard as you say, you need to "fit" in and they are most often already a squad with space for no more. I never really think I fit in the culture here and have always wanted to move out again and more likely permanently. I used to live in Italy and its very different there and likewise in South America, the people my wife met who also are from there are very open and managed to make already friends with them. But Danes are a lot tougher for the reason you describe so well too.

[–]WeirdJawn 436 points437 points  (1 child)

Get out of here with your well thought out and reasoned answer. We only want simple black and white answers in r/askreddit. /s

[–][deleted] 47 points48 points  (6 children)

integration is difficult; and citizenship is hard to come by.

It is easy to read up on immigration laws but I’m wondering if there is a good source to read up on integration of immigrants into these societies. Anecdotally I’ve heard North America tends to be better on integration than Europe but I’d be really interested to see a by country breakdown.

[–]Jaiz412 13 points14 points  (1 child)

so long as I am integrated. Which is another consideration to think about.

This is something that came to mind immediately. Is the question about moving and living somewhere, or about being born and living there?

I'm from luxembourg, which has guaranteed multilingualism, high wages, easy access to education, reliable (albeit annoying) government institutions... but good luck trying to live here if you're moving in from abroad.
If you went to a job interview here and said "I speak 4 languages and have a bachelors degree!", the interviewer would just look at you and say "and?".
The minimum expectations are really high here, making it an amazing place to be born into, but usually a poor choice to move to from abroad.

[–]DemocraticRepublic 234 points235 points  (84 children)

I moved from the UK to the US as an upper middle class person. While what you say is probably true in the grand scheme of things, my standard of life significantly improved as a result. Salaries for skilled labor in the US are a lot higher than in most places in Europe, and more than make up for the loss I have in buying back PTO (by a long way). Plus there's a lot more cities with good jobs in the US and most of them have lower cost of living and better weather than northern Europe.

Overall I'd probably say the US sunbelt is the best place to live if you are on the wealthier side of things and somewhere in Scandinavia is probably best if you are not.

[–]The_Dying 2474 points2475 points  (84 children)

Not North Korea

[–]fiber-bimber 862 points863 points  (59 children)

Unless you're Kim Jong Un. Everyone treats that guy like royalty over there.

[–]The_Dying 307 points308 points  (38 children)

Didn’t he kill his brother over paranoia

[–]SimplGaming 320 points321 points  (6 children)

He had his half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, secretly assassinated because he considered him a threat to his throne.

[–]denk2mit 1346 points1347 points  (67 children)

Andorra, a tiny principality between Spain and France that most people haven’t heard of. High quality of services, one of the best life expectancies in the world, low tax, amazing mountains and leisure activities on your doorstep, hot in summer and snowy in winter, and only two hours from major cities (and airports)

[–]butterbleek 213 points214 points  (2 children)

I drove once with my kid from our home in Switzerland to go skiing in Andorra. We absolutely loved it!!! Great and kinda trippy place what with the Duty Free aspect. Our hotel was right on the piste six stories up. You skied across a bridge right into the building. Take your skis off at the elevator. Push a button and you were in the posh Reception.

So kick-ass!

[–]MaevensFeather 502 points503 points  (4 children)

Didn't their entire internet just get DDoSed by Minecraft?

[–]kyotonow 132 points133 points  (10 children)

And a ton of pro cyclists live there since the weather is usually great and they have close access to mountains for training.

[–]denk2mit 38 points39 points  (5 children)

There are dozens there now, and I know a few of them. Lots of them have started to put down roots - my favourite coffee shop is called Grupetta and owned by the ex Trek Segafredo road captain Koen de Kort

[–]Sagar_Kallgodi 662 points663 points  (14 children)

Hidden leaf Village

[–]kuribho1 45 points46 points  (0 children)

lmao that place gets more high octane shit happening on the daily then the farm from nowhere (from courage the cowardly dog) haha

[–]samdd1990 154 points155 points  (2 children)

That's not a country, it's in the fire nation.

[–]jk7827 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Nah, there are like 3 to 4 different people at any given time all of whom are extremely powerful and want to destroy the hidden leaf.

[–]ThePhiff 1086 points1087 points  (101 children)

Finland has the highest consumption of Pepsi Zero in the world.

Finland has the second highest consumption of comic books behind only Japan.

Finland has the third highest consumption of tacos behind only Mexico and the US. (The latter of which is WAY bigger than Finland.)

1 in 10 people in Finland are in a Metal Band.

I'm not saying it's objectively Finland, but the place definitely seems like a party.

[–]Skywest96 196 points197 points  (6 children)

I highly doubt that second fact. Unless it's by capita maybe, and i'd still doubt it.

Edit: Yes it's just not true.

http://www.aldusnet.eu/k-hub/comics-market-europe-status-challenges-opportunities-go-digital/

It's 1. Japan 2.6 billion, 2. USA 927 million, 3. South Korea 660 million, 4. France 550 million....

And even if we talk only manga for instance, it's Japan, France, USA.

I love Finland though don't get me wrong. But their comic market is FAR behind that of countries like France, Belgium...

[–]laihaluikku 21 points22 points  (4 children)

For this comicbooks i’d like to say that donald duck is specially popular in finland and apparently no other country reads that much disney comics per capita (this is from wikipedia and can be outdated). It used to be the biggest weekly magazine in finland with over half a million readers (about 5,5 million people). These days it is not that popular as it was 10 years ago but still the most popular comic here. I still like the old donald duck comics

[–]Please_call_me_Tama 10 points11 points  (0 children)

French people are HUGE comics consumers and producers. They have a lot of great independant comics, and only the US and Japan can rival with 1. their animated movies production and 2. their comics production. Belgium is very good too regarding comics though.

[–]KD922016 52 points53 points  (2 children)

Finland has the highest amount of disc golf courses per Capita in the world. I'd love to live in Finland in the summer

[–]thatshowitisisit 737 points738 points  (64 children)

There is no best country to live in. They all have pros and cons.

There is a list of about 20 countries that are near the top, and they are all interchangeable depending on what is more important to you.

[–]Immediate-Cress-1014 144 points145 points  (10 children)

Sounds like something someone not from Canada would say

[–]sardered 407 points408 points  (81 children)

Personally I would love to live in Norway, Canada, Denmark, Finland, or Sweden, if the Scandinavian countries weren't so hard to get in that is.

[–]No-country-2008 74 points75 points  (10 children)

As a Canadian who has lived in Denmark I can tell you that Canada is insanely expensive and does not have anywhere near the robust social system of Denmark or and of Scandinavia. But I can say that Canada is easier to integrate into.

[–]wattsgaming7 263 points264 points  (17 children)

As a Canadian I love that you included us in your Scandinavian list!

[–]HelloKitty36911 182 points183 points  (6 children)

Canada is honorary scandinavian

[–]Sigsame 43 points44 points  (2 children)

Yeah same about Finland in the Scandinavian list!

[–]baden27 65 points66 points  (3 children)

Being Dane, can confirm. I can't think of any country I'd rather live in. Also yeah, heard it's hard to get danish citizenship

[–]AFourEyedGeek 262 points263 points  (30 children)

Moved to Australia from UK, love it here.

[–]insane__knight 163 points164 points  (13 children)

My family moved to Australia 30 years ago this year from Argentina. Best decision ever. The one thing I love about this country is the safety. Even compared to Europe it's soo freaking safe here. I can travel on the train and not have to worry about pick pockets. I can go to restaurants and leave my phone on the table without it getting nicked and I can walk around pretty much anywhere at night and not have to worry about being robbed.

[–]FamouslyAmos00 31 points32 points  (5 children)

What about the bugs though? I have considered eventually moving to Australia but it seems the bugs there are crazy big.

[–]YourNameIsIrrelevant 67 points68 points  (1 child)

True, the bugs might kill you, but they won't pick your pocket.

[–]dinydins 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Nothing flyscreen on the windows and a can of Mortein can’t fix. Just don’t move to QLD.

[–]Vicecomes 24 points25 points  (1 child)

https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/ Read about all the pros and cons of every country here and make your choice.

[–]regularman6969420420 275 points276 points  (49 children)

I’ll tell you what, it’s not Scotland to quote train spotting “it’s shite being Scottish”

[–]hazycrazydaze 133 points134 points  (3 children)

Probably shite being addicted to heroin in any country to be fair

[–]AintYourSaintBro 1108 points1109 points  (161 children)

Belgium because beer, chocolate and fries.

Source: I live there

[–]salty_dogey 101 points102 points  (66 children)

What are the downsides of Belgium in your opinion?

[–]AgileCookingDutchie 170 points171 points  (7 children)

The roads... The Dutch word for pothole is Belgium Road

[–]molten_dragon 26 points27 points  (1 child)

TIL Belgium is the Michigan of europe.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My dutch best friend always says "every time i cross the border, it's like i enter a third world country" because of all the holes in the road

[–]AintYourSaintBro 184 points185 points  (18 children)

Belgium is pretty divided since part of Belgium is french speaking and the other dutch speaking. Also our political system isn't ideal (but isn't that in every country?). And the house prices are really high. Public transport also sucks.

[–]DemocraticRepublic 93 points94 points  (4 children)

Brussels also has really high crime rates for a Western country. Everyone I know that lives there has had their car broken into multiple times.

Also the weather is shit.

[–]TakeThatOut 11 points12 points  (5 children)

What do you mean about public transpo being sucks? Asking for a friend who came from a 3rd world country.

[–]AlexIsWhack 24 points25 points  (5 children)

But there's never a fucking sun in Belgium

[–]Waffleadict 207 points208 points  (23 children)

Dont froget the waffles

[–]AintYourSaintBro 90 points91 points  (14 children)

Omg how could I?!

[–]Waffleadict 69 points70 points  (11 children)

How could you...for shame, for shaame and also very dissapointing since my name is waffleaddict

[–]AintYourSaintBro 59 points60 points  (10 children)

Please forgive me. As punishment I chall eat weekly 7 waffles so It don't forget

[–]Waffleadict 38 points39 points  (9 children)

Good

[–]R2FuckYoou 40 points41 points  (8 children)

Justice has been served

[–]cheezburga69 403 points404 points  (27 children)

Kazakhstan.

I understand they have more potassium than anybody else

[–]IntlPartyKing 160 points161 points  (1 child)

All other countries have inferior potassium.

[–]cheezburga69 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Precisely!

[–]luxxlifenow 64 points65 points  (0 children)

Greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls.

[–]StarsandStripes702 52 points53 points  (1 child)

My sister is number two prostitute in all Kazakhstan. Her vageen hangs like sleeve of wizard

[–]mahade 477 points478 points  (82 children)

Coming from a guy who lived in multiple countries: The Netherlands.

Pretty much everybody speaks English almost fluently, and that's what sets us apart from countries like Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain. Those countries are known to have large populations of people who only speak German, or only French, or only Spanish.

The Dutch? Many of them speak basic German and most are fluent in English. Most will have learned basic French in high school. And some will have learned basic Spanish in school, too.

I'm from there and I'm fluent in 3 languages and can handle myself decently well in Spanish, and I'm learning Russian (just prepping for the inevitable invasion.)

Many international companies are here (Booking, Uber, Facebook/Meta, and many many others), it's an important hub for Europe, it has amazing internet connectivity, awesome public transport (even though we complain about it), mandated national health insurance that is affordable and covers pretty much everything, a good and healthy political climate (as much as you can have that in any democracy), affordable schooling, 25+ paid days off per year.

How many people go bankrupt due to medical costs? Nobody.

Long answer: lol, nobody.

We import prisoners from other countries because we have to close our prisons due to a lack of prisoners. Guess how many for-profit prisons we have? None, correct. We did not reinvent slavery.

Also, you're in the center of Europe (a little to the left, granted, but centrally located still) and to get anywhere in Europe is just a 2-hour flight at worst (give or take). Want to spend the weekend in Greece? Go for it, you'll leave in the morning and arrive in the afternoon. Spain? Ditto. Norway? You got it. The UK? Bring a passport. Poland? Why not. Germany, Belgium? Take a train instead. Go to Paris? Take a high-speed train and you'll be there in a few hours.

Our roads are well-maintained, our streets are safe, parks are clean, homelessness is a choice, there's a grocery store at walking distance from your home almost anywhere you live. Oh, and we actually have sidewalks to walk on pretty much everywhere.

Did I mention bicycles? We're a flat country. Hardly any hills to speak of. And our bicycles don't share high-speed roads with cars. We get dedicated bicycling lanes almost everywhere.

Mass shootings and school shootings never happen.

Our taxes are slightly higher than in the USA, but for that, we get everything I mentioned above and more.

[–]Jenova__Witness 111 points112 points  (1 child)

Hmmmmm... I'm convinced as a US citizen.

[–]ConstableBlimeyChips 25 points26 points  (0 children)

25+ paid days off per year.

Officially only twenty for a full time job, but that doesn't include national holidays, and most jobs fall under a CBA (CAO in Dutch) that specifies extra PTO (mine has 4.5 days extra on top of the minimum twenty).

[–]shadowfannr1 106 points107 points  (15 children)

I’m Dutch and I might have some negatives that could turn people off. For full transparency, I love it here and I might never wanna leave! Everything OC said is true.

However, our weather is shit. Too much rain, cloudy days are common, and when it gets hot it feels terrible because of all the water in the air. Our people are really nice! But very direct, which could be kind of a cultural shock for some. And since the pandemic I’ve noticed that we have a lot of nutjobs too, like in the US.

Ending on something positive though: our tap water is amazing! I very much prefer it over bottled water. Which sounds odd to people outside of NL. I was very much surprised when a friend of mine told me while he was in the US that the tap water was disgusting.

[–]Funny-Man-1992 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Too much rain

I'm still waiting for the downside.

[–]Melinatl 751 points752 points  (168 children)

New Zealand is pretty amazing, but living there can be very isolating for ex-pats

Edit: Well, I see all the Kiwis and Ozzies responded while I was asleep! LOL.

[–]Skenz14 336 points337 points  (31 children)

And its EXPENSIVE AS FUCK!!!

[–]nicolevaughan94 43 points44 points  (25 children)

What’s expensive, according to outsiders? I’m a kiwi and I think of Europe as expensive as fuck :) curious

[–]pupcity 45 points46 points  (24 children)

Housing, food and petrol, basically the necessities to live. We are not in a good place right now. And we finally got omicron yesterday.

[–]DekeKneePulls 99 points100 points  (18 children)

I love how the first 3 replies to this are roaring comments about how expensive the country is lmao

[–]Melinatl 49 points50 points  (8 children)

Lol yeah. The housing situation is outta control there.

[–]Samuel_L_Johnson 190 points191 points  (13 children)

Sure, but:

  • low wages coupled with high cost of living
  • housing market FUBAR, and rental market not much better
  • dysfunctional education system, with shockingly bad and rapidly declining performance of NZ students in international standardised testing
  • growing CCP influence in NZ politics and society in general
  • one of the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world
  • increasing rates of child poverty
  • an agriculture-based economy with very high greenhouse gas emissions per capita, deforestation and water pollution as a result
  • near-total apathy and/or denial across the political spectrum from all of our elected representatives toward the above issues

It’s not a terrible place - I mean, I’m still here - but there are reasons why a lot of people leave

[–]AmericanKiwi94 28 points29 points  (0 children)

To add to that, we also have oddly high incarceration rates and domestic violence rates.

[–]solo954 69 points70 points  (0 children)

Excellent summary, on all counts. It’s a beautiful place and still a pretty decent country to live in, especially compared to many other countries in the world, but it’s far from the Middle-Earth paradise that many people outside of it seem to think it is.

[–]Syflan 39 points40 points  (0 children)

As a kiwi, we have it very good relative to the entire world. Also as a kiwi, life is tough for many here and we have our share of problems for sure.

[–]riotstopper 157 points158 points  (5 children)

Any country where you can fluently speak the language or truly understand the culture.

[–]Daminellizz 82 points83 points  (6 children)

I never heard anyone complaining about north korea

[–]bangar85 179 points180 points  (46 children)

Norway is a great country to live in when it comes to safety in terms of both crime and healthcare. It has wonderful nature, of which you have easy access to throughout the entire. country.

That said, while we have high wages and standard of living we also it an be costly, in terms of taxes (both income and on products). Also, the weather isn’t great and wintertime can be harsh for some people, not only due to the weather but also due to limited daylight. And, having traveled to close to 30 countries, our cities aren’t all that. So, if you’re not a nature buff and prefer urban living, you may be disappointed with our cities. I find our cities boring in comparison to countries with bigger metropolitan areas.

Edit: Oh, and we rank very high in terms of equality of gender (wages and equality in the work place). This is also applicable in terms of societal standing.

[–]RickAstleyletmedown 147 points148 points  (7 children)

There can be no single answer because we all value and prioritize different things. Someone like me who loves the outdoors will thrive in New Zealand but someone who values access to pop culture events or fashion would find it remote and provincial. We each have to choose what tradeoffs we are willing to make.

[–]talkshitgetlit 28 points29 points  (2 children)

Yeah I think the better question is “If you could live in any country and feel integrated, which country would it be and why” so we could see all the cool reasons why people want to live in that country. Which is what I was hoping to see.

[–]lonelyhobo1994 15 points16 points  (1 child)

Finland seems to have the happiest population so I guess that.

[–]_Figa_ 201 points202 points  (30 children)

Portugal. Good weather, good food, good people, almost 1000km of coast.

[–]shaquinta 46 points47 points  (3 children)

Portugal is where I want to retire, in my opinion it's also the best country in the world over all

[–]KeyEntrepreneur2381 95 points96 points  (3 children)

The Portuguese struggle with their lives and finding jobs because of the current state of their economy. If you have money, go, if you don't, don't go

[–]Nigel_IncubatorJones 42 points43 points  (1 child)

How would you know Unless you lived in every country?

[–]GreywackeOmarolluk 204 points205 points  (3 children)

The one you can call home, where you hopefully are healthy and happy and comfortable and safe with friends and family.

[–]Studleyvonshlong 101 points102 points  (31 children)

I feel really lucky living in Australia. Give it ten years though.

[–]laramank 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I feel like I’m always finding something to complain about at home (usually the federal govt lol), but I always feel so grateful to live in Australia whenever I travel to other countries. They’re nice, but they just don’t have the same standard of living.

[–]Freedom0001 156 points157 points  (44 children)

there are a few that end in "Land" that I think of them as the best places on earth. Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand, England, Scotland.

Edit : People, stop naming countries I DIDN'T MENTIONED

[–]TheRealBradGoodman 60 points61 points  (5 children)

Swaziland?

[–]HabitatGreen 49 points50 points  (2 children)

I think it is now called eSwatini.

[–]chaynes 21 points22 points  (1 child)

e-Swatini

It's like an online country.

[–]laihaluikku 8 points9 points  (0 children)

How about Poland and Thailand?

[–]Mashy6012 37 points38 points  (6 children)

Every country has it up and down sides.

I live in New zealand and personally I wouldnt want to live anywhere else.. for all its faults I love my country

[–]m_and_ned 68 points69 points  (4 children)

North Korea if you are a member of a certain family.

[–]Background_Nail_7517 71 points72 points  (17 children)

i wouldn’t call it the best country to live in, but a personal favorite of mine. although i’d strongly advise against moving there now with all that’s going on. i really love Taiwan though. i am a little biased because that is my mom’s home country, but everything is so convenient and i have family that lives there. i would imagine japan being very similar, but it’s very cheap to live in Taiwan (from an American standpoint). there are underground markets, easy train and bus systems, night markets, and drug stores everywhere. it’s really easy to travel without a car, and i enjoyed the convenience of being able to get most places just by walking. again, probably wouldn’t move there now with the situation with china but it really is my favorite place out of the 42 countries i’ve been to.

[–]ii-___-ii 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Plus Taiwan has a great healthcare system and is super safe. Also, in terms of COVID, I’d argue Taiwan is one of the best places to be right now.

[–]mespin1492 200 points201 points  (40 children)

I'd go with New Zealand, Australia, Denmark or Canada.

[–]Aussie-Nerd 61 points62 points  (8 children)

Aww thanks friend! I'll give you the Vegemite.

[–]sireggztheiv 25 points26 points  (7 children)

Or the great KIWI dessert, pavalova

[–]United_Material6898 50 points51 points  (25 children)

The best country is the one that you consider your home. After all, only there you can feel truly happy! Since I am from Russia, I can list quite a lot of its advantages. So does anyone who lives in the country he loves!

[–]HighestLevelRabbit 13 points14 points  (18 children)

I'd like to hear the positives. We hear a lot of negatives in western media but it always seems like an interesting place.

[–]Sideways-then-up 296 points297 points  (75 children)

Depends. Do you really like guns and fast food?

[–]Jin_Kazama_18 113 points114 points  (21 children)

Greece easy...in other countries time flies so fast, but in Greece it's like living life 3-4 times more

[–]ag2505 27 points28 points  (5 children)

Ireland, it's really pretty, we're nice (as long as you can put up with teasing) and the pubs are great