15 Most Affordable Places To Retire Abroad

If you’ve only ever considered retirement in the United States but aren’t quite finding the location, affordability or ambiance you want, it might be time to expand your horizons. Living abroad can be more affordable than living in the U.S. and allow you the chance to soak up new environments and experiences. 

To assist in your retirement planning, GOBankingRates used Numbeo, an online pricing database, to identify 15 countries that are the cheapest in the world to live during retirement. The countries are ranked by four key affordability metrics, and each metric is measured against what you would find in New York City:

• Cost-of-living index: Includes the costs of local goods and services, such as restaurants, groceries, transportation and utilities
• Average rent: The typical rental price in the country
• Groceries index: Includes typical grocery prices in the country
• Local purchasing power index: Measures the relative purchasing power of a typical salary in that country; a lower purchasing power buys fewer goods, whereas a higher purchasing power buys more

The study also factored in the following quality-of-life metrics for each country:

• Healthcare index: Includes estimates of the overall quality of the healthcare system, healthcare professionals, equipment, staff, doctors and costs.
• Safety index: Measures the safety of the country on a scale of 0-100; a higher safety index indicates a safer country, whereas a lower safety index indicates a more dangerous country
• Peacefulness index rank: The level of peace in a country according to the Institute for Economics & Peace. The global peacefulness was weighted triple. 

Based on a combination of these affordability and quality-of-life metrics, GOBankingRates’ study found that the most affordable places to retire abroad were in the following 15 countries. Places are listed in reverse order, with the most affordable place to retire abroad appearing last in the list.

Their healthcare, public safety and other metrics make these countries relative bargains, even compared with some of the cheapest places to retire in America.

• Cost-of-living index: 41.7
• Purchasing power index: 63.4
• Grocery cost index: 39.8
• Healthcare quality index: 54.0
• Safety index: 66.7
• Average rent: $463
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.50

• Cost-of-living index: 63.2
• Purchasing power index: 118
• Grocery cost index: 63
• Healthcare quality index: 77.5
• Safety index: 73.8
• Average rent: $792
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.47

• Cost-of-living index: 47.1
• Purchasing power index: 75.5
• Grocery cost index: 44.2
• Healthcare quality index: 74.9
• Safety index: 67.5
• Average rent: $600
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.67

• Cost-of-living index: 38.3
• Purchasing power index: 68.4
• Grocery cost index: 38.2
• Healthcare quality index: 58
• Safety index: 63.4
• Average rent: $400
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.63

• Cost-of-living index: 45.1
• Purchasing power index: 56.9
• Grocery cost index: 43.8
• Healthcare quality index: 72.5
• Safety index: 68.8
• Average rent: $924
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.37

• Cost-of-living index: 52.0
• Purchasing power index: 80.4
• Grocery cost index: 46.4
• Healthcare quality index: 75.9
• Safety index: 76.4
• Average rent: $572
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.62

• Cost-of-living index: 51.3
• Purchasing power index: 161.1
• Grocery cost index: 43.9
• Healthcare quality index: 73.4
• Safety index: 84
• Average rent: $1,268
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.66

• Cost-of-living index: 49.9
• Purchasing power index: 80.9
• Grocery cost index: 49
• Healthcare quality index: 66.3
• Safety index: 76.4
• Average rent: $712
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.40

• Cost-of-living index: 45.5
• Purchasing power index: 75
• Grocery cost index: 43.5
• Healthcare quality index: 65
• Safety index: 74.4
• Average rent: $583
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.50

• Cost-of-living index: 42.1
• Purchasing power index: 161.8
• Grocery cost index: 34.5
• Healthcare quality index: 57.9
• Safety index: 67.2
• Average rent: $768
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.62

• Cost-of-living index: 46.6
• Purchasing power index: 84
• Grocery cost index: 44.4
• Healthcare quality index: 75.6
• Safety index: 73.2
• Average rent: $758
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.46

• Cost-of-living index: 45.2
• Purchasing power index: 95.1
• Grocery cost index: 60.1
• Healthcare quality index: 86.4
• Safety index: 82.8
• Average rent: $399
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.82

• Cost-of-living index: 42.4
• Purchasing power index: 139.8
• Grocery cost index: 39.9
• Healthcare quality index: 65.1
• Safety index: 81.8
• Average rent: $464
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.76

• Cost-of-living index: 30
• Purchasing power index: 79.9
• Grocery cost index: 36.3
• Healthcare quality index: 70.2
• Safety index: 50.6
• Average rent: $312
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.43

• Cost-of-living index: 46.1
• Purchasing power index: 117
• Grocery cost index: 53.7
• Healthcare quality index: 79.7
• Safety index: 77.3
• Average rent: $497
• Peacefulness index rank: 1.53

Jordan Rosenfeld contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed countries average cost of living to find the most affordable places to retire abroad. Using the cost of living indexes and quality of life indexes as sourced from Numbeo, the countries can be compared to find the most affordable location. The cost of living index compares the local costs of expenditures, the purchasing power compares the buying power of local currencies, the grocery cost compares the cost of food items, healthcare quality compares the quality of healthcare services, safety index compares crime statistics, and rent cost takes the average cost of renting a one-bedroom in the city center and renting a one-bedroom outside the city center. Using the 2024 Global Peace Index as sourced from VisionofHumanity.com, the countries’ overall peacefulness index can be sourced. The global peace index represents the safety in a country by comparing ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. The cost-of-living index was scored and weighted at 2.00, the purchasing power index was scored and weighted at 1.00, the grocery cost was scored and weighted at 1.00, the healthcare quality was scored and weighted at 1.00, the safety index was scored and weighted at 1.00, the average rent was scored and weighted at 2.00, and the peacefulness index was scored and weighted at 3.00. All scores were summed and sorted to show the most affordable places to retire abroad. Only countries with all data available were considered for this study, and all countries with a peacefulness index below ‘medium’ were removed. All data was collected on and is up to date as of Aug. 20th, 2024.