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 from NetCredit 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 retire comfortably, behind Singapore, Iceland, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

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

Costa Rica is also a popular destination for American retirees, combining a well-regarded healthcare system with a territorial tax system that generally does not tax 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). Pakistan’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 local living costs 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 this graphic on the share of Americans receiving Social Security by state.