Which country do you believe has the best quality of life, real estate value?

That is a very subjective question, but your best bet would be to look at the List of Countries by Human Development Index. The top country as of 2009 is Norway.

Other than the weather, Canada would rank very high in my book.

I think there are many nice places, and real estate ‘value’ would be the least of my concerns as the illusion of ‘ownership’ is just that, everything is subject to flux and change.

I would choose based on what I have already chosen in my life and how I live now.

Natural beauty, acreage and serenity.

I have taken a big hit in this economy and my ‘assets’ have absorbed that hit, but, it changes not my preference for a particular lifestyle.

Base your decision on the whole enchilada and not just real estate value.

You can find relatively inexpensive properties in Costa Rica and other countries but you may end up spending $10 for a jar of peanut butter. lol

There are always tradeoffs and there is no perfect nirvana.

Wherever you go there you are! haha

Good god… how does anyone rate on such nebulous criteria? I would like this to be a ‘helpful’ answer, but what do you mean by these things? Food? Should it be grown in one’s own back yard, available for picking off trees in public places, exceptionally diverse or served in five-star restaurants? I take tasty, plentiful, safe as a given, but what do you consider ‘tasty’, and ‘plentiful’? Or is “cheap and plenty” all you need?

And that was just “food”. “Raising children” is a whole supermarket of choices.

What are the criteria (and what is the weighting you assign) to all of these things?

Connecticut suits me just fine on all of the criteria that I find important, and some that you didn’t mention, such as climate, access to water, transportation hubs, etc.

“Real estate values”? Are you kidding? What do you want there? Cheap housing, or housing that’s astronomically expensive and getting more so?

@CyanoticWasp You are right about everything you say, I was not very clear. Obviously a metro area in the U.S. offers everything I am looking for, from food and cultural diversity, to high arts and everything you need. Many cities come to mind ( New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles ), I guess what I want to know is that given a chance which country would you move to and for what reasons? Purely hypothetical.

This is just based on opinion of course and maybe the influence of a book I just finished reading but I would rank the best countries to live in as those with the least disparity between the assets and incomes of their citizens. That puts countries like Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark way up there on the list. And here’s why….when you think egalitarian in one area…there is a tendency to think egalitarian in other areas as well. The less disparity the more equal the access to health care and education without the creation of astronomical personal debt. I would consider countries that give ample access to abortion and contraceptive high rankings as that greatly reduces the amount of teen and other unwanted/unplanned pregnancies. I would rank societies that have no real problem with same sex marriage high on the list. I would consider countries who have very low crime rates high on the list. And I would consider countries who keep a tight reign on how their own corporation treat their citizens high on the list.
I would rank the USA and Canada towards the bottom of the list just above Africa and the Middle Eastern block. They stand in antithesis of everything I stated as desirable above.

@Joybird Those are exactly the reasons I’m considering relocating to another country.

Cuba

Of course I am biased, but Australia is the best country in the world. Where I live in Sydney, it is the most expensive part of the country to live in, but we have some beautiful regional towns where it is cheaper to live, and the quality of life is second to none.

The regional centres are relatively safe places to raise children, and there is excellent education available. There is plenty of employment for people who want to work.

Belize is a great place to retire

As others have said before, which country has the best quality of life for YOU depends a lot on which factors are important for you. Real estate value is one of those criterias and can be answered more objectively. “International Living”, for example, publishes each year a retirement and a quality of life index, where they score 30 countries in the following categories:
* Real Estate
* Special Benefits for Retirees
* Cost of Living
* Culture, Entertainment and Recreation
* Health Care
* Infrastructure including telecommuncations
* Safety and Stability
* Climate
For me personally, the factors cost of living, climate, infrastructure (especially Internet access, as I am a “remote” worker), and quality of educational system (or availability of good international schools) are the most important ones. I am currently “testing” Nicaragua to see if it fits my criteria for a good country to live in.

I’ve done done a lot of research about best places to retire. Perhaps you’ll find answers to some of your questions there.

@meercat Thank you for your answer. I don’t want to sound so cruel and I mean no disrespect but Nicaragua is the worst place I have ever been in my entire life. My grandfather retired and went to Managua, (because he had family in there), he had a beautiful home and the food is okay, but of the two times I went to Managua and Leon I got mugged three times! My Grandad got beat up outside his home over 10 dollars ( he was 83 at the time ).I lived in Mexico City for many years and never was a victim of a crime, and let me tell you I used to hang around in bad places. If there is a place in Central America I would go to is Costa Rica, granted, it is way more expensive that any other country in the region but it has so many advantages, like great health care system ( way better than the U.S. ), low crime rate, population is more educated overall.
Now of course it is personal experience the reason I dislike Nicaragua so much, and it might be paradise for others, but please be careful if you ever decide to go there.