Currently living in the west and I am becoming very tired of all that goes on here. Despite being raised here, I have no desire to live here any longer. I want to move somewhere simple, where all that is required is that you love your neighbour, pay your bills, and raise your family. Any good countries that are just simple and without drama?
edit - Decided to remove the specific things that I am tired of since a couple of people are assuming my positions.
Oh shoot I forgot about the economy but I had been there last may and it was such a beautiful place that when I came back to my house I started to miss sri lanka. I really loved it and would love to visit it once again some where in the future and also to visit sigiriya because I missed it due to unavoidable circumstances.
Grass is greener on the other side brother. I want to live in the west or Japan because I have rose tinted glasses about them too, but you need to be able to see past that. You need to know the pros and cons of living in a country. If you can only see the pros then I suggest just stay in your own country. Heck I know one day I'm staying there forever but I need to prepare myself for what's to come first.
Do you want to experience anti foreigner sentiment in 3rd world country(being used as a political tool)? Or do you prefer getting a preferential treatment because they think " westerners = rich people"?
Hot take , you guys love to whine a lot but you guys have it good out there.
I suggest that you should consume less news media, because from what you just posted , I will have to assume that you're not complaining about your Financials, you're complaining about the political climates. I can ensure you that every country has its own political dramas .
I'm not saying to avoid news entirely, it's just you should either know the essentials ( if you wanna live a relaxing life(probably)) or understand it's deeper meaning and nuances.
I actually do avoid the news to get some peace but when I go to work the news is all I hear about from co-workers. It also doesn't help that a lot of people around me seem to hold strong views and look at you as an enemy when you don't agree. You are right that it is a political thing so it probably isn't just a western problem but surely some places are still less inflammatory than others.
Nah I'm my country there's a certain thing you cannot say be it political or religious ( yes , the place where I live they take religion seriously if not too serious in my opinion), even if you are objectively right a lot of people can be just as inflammatory as in the west. It's just the west and the rest have different priority and set of beliefs. So it's not that different 😂
That's a genuinely tough question to answer. Because every country has major drawbacks, whether it be a new language or high taxes or anything like that, and you're always suseptible to culture shock.
With that aside, though, Nordic countries are very peaceful and isolated for the most part. They're called some of the happiest countries in the world for a reason. A lot of their languages are also fairly similar to English, so they should be easier to learn than Russian or Arabic, for example.
As for which country, I'd have to recommend Denmark. It's the most proficient country at English, with 90%+ speaking it as a second language. Danish is the closest Nordic language to English, which would make it easier to learn anyway. Denmark also has a lot of greenery, you're never too far from the sea, and I hear the government is supportive. The only major downside I know of is pretty high cost of living, but if you're living in North America you're probably already used to it.
Alternatively, Iceland is also a decent option. It's isolated, it's peaceful, it has an abundance of nature, and it only has a population of a little over 300k, all living near the sea. I'm pretty sure it has the highest taxes in the world, though, so it's not perfect. The reality is, nowhere is perfect.
I wish you luck on your endeavors. Be sure to do your research and take your time to think about things before taking decisions you can't go back on.
Well said, added that to my comment above. People forget that Japan's culture has two sides, the side that they show tourists and the side that they live day-to-day. The family thnig is a big one for me, too. I completley understand why a Japanese woman would rather date a Japanese man, but so then why would I go to Japan to try and start a family, right?
Last time I heard about Sweden there was increase in crime unless that's been addressed?
I'm not too sure about the Japanese women not liking foreigners part. I know a lot of white guys living in Japan and many of them have found it easy to find a Japanese girlfriend. On top of that, heard from some others that if at least you're a white guy you should be good. I can't comment on how finding relationships in Japan as a non-white guy would be though; haven't heard much on it. A couple friends also work for big Japanese tech companies and they haven't made much comment on it either, but I don't know if that's just them keeping it to themselves.
Yeah, it spans a wide range of Asia. I specified Japan just because they were the topic but I remember hearing about this phenomenon in America too; something like 50% of all Asian women in America are married to white men, and many Asian women voice preferences for white men. It's a really interesting phenomenon, can't quite decide if it's amusing or a bit sad.
Japanese people are on average quite racist towards foreigners. I saw someone mentioning France, but France also has a polarising political climate. The same goes for the Netherlands (not mentioned but apart from the political situation nice to live in). I’m not sure about the downsides of living in New Zealand, but the Iceland weather is something to keep in mind (in summer its light 24/7 outside, in winter its dark 24/7).
I agree with #11/#17: every country has drawbacks. We are very lucky to be able to live in the West, where human rights and financial stability are taken for granted!
If you are looking to move, Denmark might be the best option :)
Good luck!
As a Dutchie I feel olbliged to point out that the country with the highest English proficiency (behind native speaking ones obviously, yet ahead of Canada lmao) is actually the Netherlands, with Singapore second and Austria third, with Denmark coming in fourth. Not to take away from Denmark, it's a great country, and they have us beat in many metrics, just not this one :) Also Denmark is even flatter than the Netherlands, even though their average elevation is higher. The highest point of the country of Denmark is 171m, whereas the highest point of continental Netherlands is 322m (officially it's 887m now that Saba is an actual part of the country, but that feels like cheating).
The Netherlands are also a terrific option—I have family there and they're very happy with how things are going. The one reason I didn't recommend it is it's raining something like 200 days of the year. If he doesn't mind, then it's a good choice, but if he wants to spend a lot of time outside then a different county could be a bit better
Idk, it probably is the part where you feel the need to mention the "pronouns discussion" rather than the past 14 years of tory government, which would actually be the ones that were not listening to the people over and over again, and the reason the UK is flailing like a fish out of water atm. Also education is not "agenda driven", unless you mean trying to embellish some of the dark pages of our own countries' histories (the same is true fot the Netherlands). History is just always viewed through an ever moving lens, or overton window if you will, and naturally it will also move in a way to connect with topics relevant today. The same is true for education as a whole, we are always applying the (new) sensibilities of today to the way we teach our kids. If we 'learn' that queer kids or people are still being discriminated against nowadays, we reflect that when teaching our current school population, when the subject comes up. That's how I see things at least, and you have every right to disagree, but don't be surprised if people take issue with how you chose to phrase or portray certain issues as well :)
Here's the thing. I have many friends who are trans or gender non-conforming, and yet I hear about "pronouns" so, so much more from bigoted people because they're the ones who are convinced that it's all some culture war attack on their values. To anyone who actually doesn't care, it's just "oh, you prefer to be called they/them? Cool."
Now I understand you've edited your original post to move the focus away from that. But also understand that you have the luxury of considering these things "political." To anyone who is trans, or gay, or disabled, or any number of other things, it's not so simple to just "love your neighbor and raise your family" when a majority of places in the world are openly hostile to your very existence.
You can consider moving to the UAE because it's a wealthy and low-crime country, but guess who can't?
If you can get a job lined up (for the visa) and it's well paying. The UAE is by far the #1 choice imo. It is one of the few countries where I've actually felt safe. The stories of leaving your laptops and phones in a public place for hours at a time are true.
Now I must say that if you have an issue with living in a country that has a history of dodgy human right practices, it may weigh on your mind a bit. So it depends on whether you're the type of person who has an issue with that.
In Europe solid choices are Denmark and Austria, although I've only heard about those places and not been there my self. Those countries are renowned for having high taxes if that's an issue for you. NZ is very nice too, but I find it too isolated from the rest of the world, if that's not an issue I would also have a gander there if the UAE isn't your cup of tea.
if a relatively good social life is important to u, move to malaysia. if u just want a peaceful country with no taxes (but hard to get citizenship and no nightlife culture) then brunei. the UAE is not a bad option as well but it depends on how u feel about the culture and views there. and also if u can get a job
Penang in Malaysia was a popular retirement spot when I was there; cheap but good food and cheap high quality apartments and housing, and mostly everyone speaks english.
20 bucks a month for godspeed internet too
99% of my neighbors were Chinese, Japanese, and British expats or students
Lot of semiconductor sector work: AMD, Intel, etc.
Its hard to get a work visa there though unless your company can convince the government you bring a unique skillset that a native malaysian cannot provide.
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