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The Cost To Retire Comfortably Around The World

ย ย The Cost To Retire Comfortably Around The World

For Americans considering retirement abroad, the same savings can go dramatically different distances depending on the destination.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, maps the estimated cost for Americans to retire comfortably around the world, based on data fromย NetCreditย and Numbeo.

Estimates reflect a retirement of 14 years and 8.4 months, based on the average U.S. retirement age and life expectancy, and exclude taxes and healthcare costs.

The U.S. Is One of the Most Expensive Places to Retire

At an estimated $738,000, the U.S. ranks as the fifth-most expensive country in the dataset for an American to retireย comfortably, behind Singapore, Iceland, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

Rank Country Cost to Retire Comfortably ($USD)
1 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Singapore $1.1M
2 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ Iceland $893K
3 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland $859K
4 ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡บ Luxembourg $794K
5 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States $738K
6 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช Ireland $702K
7 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช UAE $684K
8 ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Netherlands $663K
9 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Israel $642K
10 ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง United Kingdom $627K
11 ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark $625K
12 ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด Norway $623K
13 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Australia $620K
14 ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Qatar $606K
15 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada $598K
16 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ท Costa Rica $556K
17 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น Austria $553K
18 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡น Malta $551K
19 ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช Belgium $534K
20 ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Germany $530K
21 ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ New Zealand $527K
22 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡พ Cyprus $525K
23 ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ Finland $520K
24 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden $508K
25 ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France $496K
26 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Italy $491K
27 ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Portugal $478K
28 ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Spain $478K
29 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡พ Uruguay $451K
30 ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ท Croatia $442K
31 ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ช Estonia $438K
32 ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ Poland $438K
33 ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ผ Kuwait $436K
34 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Czech Republic $432K
35 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ Slovenia $430K
36 ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡น Lithuania $429K
37 ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ป Latvia $427K
38 ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡น Trinidad & Tobago $427K
39 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Slovakia $417K
40 ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท South Korea $406K
41 ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Greece $406K
42 ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan $398K
43 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ช Montenegro $395K
44 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Albania $388K
45 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Saudi Arabia $362K
46 ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท Turkey $361K
47 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Moldova $360K
48 ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธ Serbia $359K
49 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ Mexico $356K
50 ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ผ Taiwan $354K
51 ๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡บ Hungary $347K
52 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท Argentina $347K
53 ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ด Dominican Republic $339K
54 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Chile $338K
55 ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ด Romania $335K
56 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Uzbekistan $331K
57 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡บ Mauritius $330K
58 ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ญ Ghana $324K
59 ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Nigeria $324K
60 ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฌ Bulgaria $324K
61 ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ฟ Tanzania $322K
62 ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ Thailand $317K
63 ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ช Georgia $315K
64 ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ South Africa $313K
65 ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ช Peru $305K
66 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฐ North Macedonia $304K
67 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท Iran $302K
68 ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Philippines $301K
69 ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฆ Bosnia & Herzegovina $299K
70 ๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ช Venezuela $296K
71 ๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ Vietnam $295K
72 ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Kazakhstan $294K
73 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ Malaysia $292K
74 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ Iraq $290K
75 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Ukraine $286K
76 ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Morocco $284K
77 ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russia $281K
78 ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ Ecuador $281K
79 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China $279K
80 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Colombia $279K
81 ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ช Kenya $272K
82 ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Uganda $272K
83 ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Azerbaijan $270K
84 ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท Brazil $268K
85 ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡พ Belarus $267K
86 ๐Ÿ‡ฝ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Kosovo $266K
87 ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Sri Lanka $258K
88 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Indonesia $254K
89 ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ณ Tunisia $253K
90 ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Algeria $222K
91 ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ต Nepal $214K
92 ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ฌ Egypt $190K
93 ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฉ Bangladesh $190K
94 ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ India $189K
95 ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฐ Pakistan $187K

Costa Rica is also a popular destination for American retirees, combining a well-regarded healthcare system with a territorial tax system that generallyย does not taxย foreign-source income.

The estimated retirement cost is $598,000 in Canada and just $356,000 in Mexico. That means the same modeled retirement in Mexico costs less than half as much as in the U.S.

The gap extends to several popular European destinations. Portugal and Spain both come in at $478,000, roughly $260,000 below the U.S. estimate, while Greece requires an estimated $406,000.

Europe Has Some of the Biggest Retirement Cost Gaps

Retirement costs across Europe range from $893,000 in Iceland to $267,000 in Belarus.

Many of the highest estimates are concentrated in Northern and Western Europe. Switzerland ($859K), Luxembourg ($794K), Ireland ($702K), the UK ($627K), and Denmark ($625K) all rank among the more expensive countries in the dataset.

Further south and east, retirement savings can stretch considerably further. The estimated cost falls to $395,000 in Montenegro, $388,000 in Albania, and $335,000 in Romania.

Even within Western Europe, there are sizable differences. Retiring in Portugal or Spain is estimated to cost about 35% less than in the United States.

Where $200,000 Could Fund an Entire Retirement

At the other end of the ranking, just four countries have estimated retirement costs below $200,000.

Pakistan is the cheapest at $187,000, followed closely by India ($189K), Bangladesh ($190K), and Egypt ($190K). Pakistanโ€™s estimate is roughly one-quarter of the $738,000 required in the United States.

Several other large economies also fall below $300,000, including Brazil ($268K), China ($279K), Colombia ($279K), Russia ($281K), Malaysia ($292K), and Vietnam ($295K).

Across the full dataset, the gap between the most and least expensive countries exceeds $900,000, highlighting how strongly localย living costsย can affect the purchasing power of retirement savings. These figures are not individualized retirement targets and exclude healthcare and taxes, which can significantly affect the cost of retiring abroad.

To learn more about this topic, check out thisย graphicย on the share of Americans receiving Social Security by state.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/20/2026 – 05:45ย ย ย 

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