Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Not sure we would all agree with this but:-

https://moneyweek.com/personal-finan...ntries-to-live

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Respectfully, these web sites are five pence to the dozen. They pop up like unwanted ads online.

Some (okay, a few) are useful. Others are merely conduits to paid sites. They write positive articles as tempting bait, but leave out important real world aspects of relocating to an overseas countries to live.

This is not to say this particular site is not ethical. I've read a bit of it, and while I have my doubts, I prefer to say the jury is out.

One has to read them with due caution and a good dose of common sense.

A few BIG 'iIFs' with moving somewhere overseas to live is (1) what is the visa situation with the country of your choice? (2) How is health care compared to your home country. (3) Will your funds convert to the currency of your new country without your incurring huge fees?

I am sure many of us here can add new IFs to this list. And we should. To help anyone considering such a move to make the best informed decision.

I made the move, admittedly on a part-time basis (three months there, one or two months at home in Australia) to Indonesia in 2013. The fist few years were fine. Then the visa rules changed. I had health problems (thankfully now under control). And of course Covid.

One hugely important to those of us who are over 65 is - how quickly (and how expensively) would it cost to return to one's home country for surgery or other fairly urgent health care if a medical emergency happens? Which they do.

IF anyone wants to add to my list or comment accordingly, please do. Shared information is always welcome.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

​​​​​​⠀‹The list is limited to just 13 destinations, admittedly the most popular historically but given the comments above prospective emigrants should cast their choices further afield.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Living in Spain, about the last place on earth I would go to for medical treatment would be the UK with its saintly NHS!

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

People returning to the UK for their health care are obviously not totally immersed in Spain and have not truly made it their home. If they bothered to use the Spanish health system they would discover how good it is,

Rosemary

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Unfortunately my Wife has had to avail herself of the Hungarian health service for various issues over the last 2 years - absolutely first class, in every respect, way better than our experiences with the NHS (which I believe has deteriorated further since we left).

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

All I can say is I think my pension goes further living in Spain we lead a modest life style but I guess get out and about here more than we would if living in the UK. I suppose it all depends on how one lives and one glove can't fit all. It's not just shopping eating out etc that's generally more expensive in the UK but household utilities . I have to say we moved here full time 5 1/2 years ago before that for 10 years our house was an holiday home for us. My personal view is UK has got more expensive since we moved full time to Spain, we all know what has happened during that time but the politicians say it has had no effect on UK , I guess we must form our own opinions on that. Life is good for us in Spain not just money goes further but health care using national not private system has been first class .

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

The situation may be different in Indonesia, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to return to the UK for treatment in preference to being treated in Spain. The only people I have known to do that have been those who were not covered by either private health insurance or the Spanish public health system, because they were living "under the radar" and not registered as residents. I had open heart surgery here in 2018, covered by my private health insurance, and the following year I had surgery to remove cancer in the public system. In both cases the care and follow-up was excellent. Last year I fell and broke my wrist and shoulder, and again was treated promptly and well in A&E, follow-up care excellent and 7 weeks of physio 3 times a week, in the public health system. We don't have the problems people in the UK have in getting appointments to see a GP, nor with delays in ambulances arriving. Never have I seen ambulances stacked up outside hospitals here unable to transfer patients as we see in the news from the UK.

In a genuine medical emergency such as a heart attack, stroke, serious accident or just falling and breaking a hip, surely it would not be feasible to make a journey back to your country of origin anyway to be treated. I'd rather go to the hospital 15 minutes down the road, thanks.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Yes, I agree I have had very positive results from the Spanish health service and even my small village has a 5-morning-a-week health centre with a doctor, nurse and receptionist. The 24/7 centre is 8kms away.

The big savings here are energy, local taxes, water and public transport.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Just out of interest how do energy costs stack up in Spain?

Apparently ours are among the lowest in the EU, our (top floor), 65m2 apartment has gas water heating (€10 pcm), everything else electric (including the heating), currently €80 pcm.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Electricity is about 60% cheaper than in the UK.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

That's a significant difference! Thanks.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

We also live in a top floor apartment, 90m2 which is all electric including the water heating, we use inverter air conditioning for heating. For the whole of 2023 the electricity bills totalled just under €700. I got the latest bill at the beginning of this week, for what will probably be our heaviest month of usage this winter, it was for €72.31. I am very happy with our energy bills.

Water bills are also very low, around €28-29 for two months, and the cost has never increased in the almost 18 years we have lived in Spain. IBI (Council Tax) is higher in our municipality than some others, ours is now €432 a year. We don't have a separate rubbish collection bill as many other areas do, but I have read that our municipality must introduce one in 2025 to comply with EU rules, don't know if that will just be separated from the IBI bill or whether overall costs will increase.

I do think that grocery prices and the cost of eating/drinking out has increased substantially over the last 2 years (we actually found it more reasonable in Madrid a few months ago compared to where we live in Andalucia, which certainly wasn't the case a few years ago). But it still seems cheaper than what I pay when I visit the UK. Some supermarket prices seem cheaper there, but others are more expensive so it probably evens out overall.

Since I started to receive my state pension my income tax bill has gone up a great deal in Spain once that is added to my occupational pension income, I will now be paying double what I would pay in the UK on the same income (although that depends a lot on the source of income, people with Crown pensions will not find the same problem as those remain taxable only in the UK). I do have a small Civil Service pension but my largest one is not a Crown pension so I pay Spanish tax on that. But I still believe our standard of living is higher here, not least because public services are good especially the health care, I rely on public transport which in our area is very good and cheap, as are the trains. Friends and family in the UK tell me they find it really difficult to find people to do things like repairs on their homes, and if they can find someone it is horribly expensive. I called an electrician we had used before on a Sunday evening because we had a problem, and although I said it could wait until the next day he came straight away, solved the problem and charged me €15, no such thing as a big call out charge before they pick up a screwdriver here.

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

Wow Lynn, thats a great energy cost!

I don't want to indulge too much in Hungary this, and Hungary that but I think its worth pointing out that pensions are not taxed here (well some are but they're zero rated).

Re: Spain tops list of cheapest countries to live
 

In all fairness the Spanish health system has it's weaknesses
In Madrid there have been strikes and I know plenty of Spanish people who opt for private healthcare as they don't have faith in the public system. My doctor in Spain is fairly incompetent. A year ago he mistook me for another British patient he had on his files and it was only when I heard him talking to the nurse that I realised the mistake as it was my old neighbour who lives in my old building!!! That's really bad. He just hands out prescriptions like sweets with pretty much zero examination. He put my ex on Statins but never gave her the results of the bloods. She then got a private test which had her cholesterol was fine.
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