LeoPatrizi/E+/Getty
Quality of life is a crucial element in evaluating a country's retirement culture.
- Retirement looks vastly different in countries around the world.
- For its latest global retirement ranking, Natixis Investment Managers and CoreData Research examined indicators related to the health, finances, material well-being, and quality of life of retirees in 44 countries.
- The Nordic countries rank high on the list, while the United States and the United Kingdom fall behind.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Life looks vastly different for retirees around the world. Not only are jobs, cultures, and traditions varied, but the ways in which governments provide for old-age citizens differs greatly from place to place.
To compare and contrast retirement security in various countries, Natixis Investment Managers and CoreData Research examines four indicators that measure welfare in retirement to compile its annual Global Retirement Index (GRI):
- Material well-being: income equality, income per capita, employment
- Health: life expectancy, health expenditure per capita, non-insured health expenditure
- Quality of life: happiness, air quality, water and sanitation, biodiversity and habitat, environmental factors
- Finances in retirement: old-age dependency, bank nonperforming loans, inflation, interest rates, tax pressure, governance, government indebtedness
The 44 countries included in the index are International Monetary Fund (IMF) advanced economies, members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
The report notes that "countries with strong overall rankings tend to perform well in the finances sub-index," including New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Iceland, and Ireland.
Below, check out the top 18 countries for retirement around the world.