I hear two camps clashing in almost every expat conversation. On one side, those who idealise life abroad: “it is so much better over there, people smile, taxes are lower, the sea is just around the corner.” On the other, those who fiercely defend their home country: “wait until you get sick, you will miss the NHS / Medicare / the Secu.” The truth, as always, sits somewhere in the middle. After years of compiling data and talking to hundreds of expats from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and France, here is an honest comparison.

I am not going to sell you a dream. Your home country wins on some points, loses on others. Honesty is the least we owe you. If you want to dig into the real reasons to leave home, I cover them in a separate article — here we stick to the data. Wherever possible, I lean on the OECD Better Life Index, the World Happiness Report, Numbeo’s Quality of Life Index, and national statistics offices such as the US Census Bureau, the UK Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and INSEE.

Healthcare: Your Home Country Is Often Hard to Beat (But Not Always)

Let’s start here, because healthcare is the ultimate argument of the stay-at-home camp. It is a solid argument, but the nuance depends heavily on where you are leaving from.

According to OECD Health at a Glance and the World Health Organization’s Global Health Observatory, the picture looks like this:

  • France, Australia, Canada, the UK: universal public systems with strong outcomes, reasonable out-of-pocket costs and high healthy life expectancy. Waiting times vary (long for specialists in Canada and the UK, shorter in France and Australia).
  • United States: world-class specialists and hospitals, but the highest out-of-pocket healthcare costs in the developed world. A bad insurance plan can bankrupt a middle-class family. Many US expats actually improve their healthcare situation by moving abroad.

Now compare with popular expat destinations:

  • Portugal: the public SNS is decent in Lisbon and Porto, but waiting lists are long and dental is largely private. Most expats take out private insurance (EUR 60 to 120 per month for comprehensive cover).
  • Spain: universal public system with excellent outcomes. Private insurance is cheap (EUR 50 to 100 per month) and widely used for faster access.
  • Estonia: solid e-health infrastructure, but fewer specialists than Western Europe. Private top-ups common.
  • Costa Rica: the CAJA public system is affordable and reasonable in San Jose. Many expats combine it with private insurance for INS hospitals.
  • Thailand: private hospitals in Bangkok and Chiang Mai are world-class and cheap by Western standards. Public system is basic.
  • Dubai / UAE: private insurance is mandatory. Outstanding infrastructure, but care without strong coverage can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
  • Mexico: private care in major cities is very affordable and of good quality. Most expats skip IMSS (public) in favour of private insurance at USD 100-200 per month.

The verdict on healthcare. If you are leaving France, Australia, the UK or Canada with a chronic illness or a large family, you are usually downgrading slightly (with the notable exception of Spain and Portugal, which can match or improve your experience — see the best countries for an expat family). If you are leaving the United States, almost any destination will lower your healthcare stress and costs dramatically.

Cost of Living and Purchasing Power: Where You Usually Win Abroad

Numbeo’s cost of living comparison is my go-to reference, adjusted for local wages. The numbers speak for themselves.

Take a freelancer earning the local equivalent of USD 60,000 per year net of tax in their home country:

  • From London (UK): rent for a one-bedroom in Zone 2 is roughly GBP 1,800 per month. Add council tax, utilities, transport, and disposable income becomes tight. In Lisbon, the same budget delivers a two-bedroom in a good neighbourhood plus eating out several times a week.
  • From New York (US): a studio in Brooklyn costs USD 2,500 to 3,500 per month. Health insurance adds USD 500 to 800. The same freelancer in Mexico City’s Roma Norte pays USD 1,200 for a spacious one-bedroom and USD 80 per month for private health insurance.
  • From Sydney (Australia): a one-bedroom in the Inner West is around AUD 2,800. In Chiang Mai, a comparable apartment is AUD 800.
  • From Toronto (Canada): CAD 2,400 for a one-bedroom downtown. In Porto, you get the same for EUR 1,000.
  • From Paris (France): a small flat in the 11th is EUR 1,200. Effective tax and social charges for a solo freelancer easily top 45 percent. In Lisbon under the IFICI regime, tax drops to 20 percent and rent to EUR 900 for a two-bedroom.

The Numbeo 2026 purchasing power snapshot (indexed to New York = 100):

  • New York: 100
  • London: 78
  • Sydney: 82
  • Toronto: 74
  • Paris: 70
  • Lisbon: 62 (but with far lower tax burden)
  • Madrid: 65
  • Mexico City: 95 (adjusted for local prices)
  • Bangkok: 110
  • Tbilisi: 130
  • Dubai: 115 (but extremely high housing cost)

The pattern is consistent: if you are a remote worker or freelancer earning home-country wages while living in a lower-cost country, purchasing power usually jumps by 40 to 100 percent.

Safety: It Depends on the City, Not the Country

Home-country safety is highly variable and often misunderstood. Data from the UNODC Global Homicide Data and Eurostat crime statistics tell a more nuanced story than the news cycle.

  • United States: higher homicide rates than most developed peers, but concentrated in specific cities and neighbourhoods. Safe suburban US is among the safest places in the world.
  • United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia: low violent crime, moderate property crime. Major cities see pickpocketing and occasional unrest.

Compared with top expat destinations on the Global Peace Index:

  • Portugal ranks in the global top 7 every year. The contrast when arriving from a US city is striking.
  • Japan, Singapore, UAE: extremely low street crime. Legal frameworks are stricter (UAE especially), which some see as a feature and others as a cost.
  • Estonia: one of the safest countries in Europe.
  • Costa Rica: relatively safe, with petty crime in tourist areas.
  • Thailand: safe for foreigners in usual areas, though scooter theft and scams are real.
  • Mexico: highly variable. Mexico City’s central neighbourhoods (Roma, Condesa, Polanco) are safer than many US cities; certain states are not.

The verdict on safety. Unless you are leaving a peaceful suburb, you usually gain safety by moving to Portugal, Spain, Estonia, Japan, or the UAE. You need to be more selective in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Work-Life Balance: The Underrated Variable

This is where the OECD Better Life Index work-life balance indicator produces striking results.

  • United States: near the bottom of OECD rankings. Average 11 paid vacation days, no mandated paid leave, long hours, short parental leave.
  • United Kingdom: 28 days statutory leave but a strong “always on” culture in London professional circles.
  • Canada, Australia: middle of the pack. 20 days statutory leave, 52 weeks parental leave in Canada, 18 weeks in Australia.
  • France: near the top. 25 days leave plus RTT, 16 weeks maternity, strong right-to-disconnect laws.

Now the destinations:

  • Spain, Portugal, Italy: Mediterranean pace. Long lunches, late dinners, family centred.
  • Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden: top of OECD work-life rankings. High wages, short weeks, strong social norms around leaving on time.
  • Dubai, Singapore: intense work cultures, but with compensating benefits (no income tax, tax-free savings).
  • Thailand, Bali: the digital nomad lifestyle trades income for flexibility.

The verdict on work-life balance. If you are leaving the United States, almost any European or Mediterranean destination will feel like a gear shift in your favour. If you are leaving France or the Netherlands, you may actually lose balance unless you pick a destination with similarly strong norms.

Weather and Daily Well-Being

Personal preferences dominate this section, but data help.

The World Happiness Report and University of Manchester sunshine studies establish clear links between sunlight exposure and mental well-being. Seasonal affective disorder affects an estimated 6 percent of the UK population, 9 percent of Canadians in northern provinces, and a meaningful share of northern French, Dutch and German populations.

  • UK, Canada, northern US, northern France, Netherlands: long, grey winters. Vitamin D deficiency is common.
  • Sydney, Los Angeles, Madrid, Rome: high sunshine, mild winters.
  • Portugal, Spain, southern Italy, southern France: 300-plus sunny days per year in much of the territory.
  • Thailand, Bali, Mexico, UAE, Costa Rica: tropical or subtropical, with trade-offs (humidity, rainy seasons, occasional storms).

Moving to Portugal, Spain, Mexico or Thailand for sunshine is not frivolous, it is a measurable mental-health decision.

Social Ties and Community

This is the quietest killer of expat dreams. The OECD Better Life Index social connections indicator shows that people who move abroad often rate community support lower for the first two to three years, regardless of destination.

  • Home country: established friendships, family nearby, cultural shortcuts that require no effort.
  • Abroad: you rebuild from scratch. Expat-heavy destinations (Lisbon, Dubai, Bali, Mexico City, Chiang Mai) make this easier because others are in the same boat.

Data from the Internations Expat Insider Survey consistently ranks Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Thailand, Costa Rica and the UAE among the top places for ease of settling in. Countries like Germany, Japan and Denmark rank high on quality of life but low on making local friends.

Bureaucracy: Where Your Home Country Probably Loses

The World Bank’s Doing Business methodology, though discontinued, and the OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook paint a clear picture.

France and Italy routinely sit among the developed world’s most bureaucratic countries for entrepreneurs. The US varies wildly by state (Delaware is easy, California is not). The UK is middle of the pack. Canada and Australia are reasonable. Estonia, through e-Residency and 99 percent digital public services, is in a class of its own. Dubai free zones deliver fast setup in exchange for high fees. Singapore and New Zealand consistently score in the global top 5 for ease of doing business.

Creating a company in Estonia: three hours online. In France: two weeks to two months. In the US: one day in Delaware, weeks in California.

The Honest Bottom Line

Your home country is objectively superior on some things and inferior on others, and the mix depends on where you are from.

If you are leaving the United States: you likely gain on healthcare costs, work-life balance, safety (if you pick well), public transport and walkability. You may lose on raw earning power.

If you are leaving the UK, Canada, Australia or France: you likely gain on sunshine, cost of living (see the cheapest countries to live), tax efficiency and bureaucratic simplicity. You may lose on healthcare depth, social safety net, and the comfort of an established network.

If you are leaving any of them: you will almost certainly gain on life novelty, self-reliance, and the kind of perspective that only comes from seeing your home country from the outside.

The right question is not “is abroad better?” It is “is abroad better for me, given my priorities, my stage of life, and my risk tolerance?” The data is here. It is your turn to weigh it.

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