Travel 9 - International Retirement

Recently, a close friend told me of her wish to retire to a country other than her own, with only one requirement;  the English language.  Now, that requirement needs a definition which, from my understanding, means any country where knowledge of the English language by the local population would be sufficient to permit reasonable communication.

A source of information ① provided one list of more than 90 countries using the language formally.  Of course, many of these countries use a form of English greatly modified by localization (other languages, dialect, and accent) that affect one’s ability to communicate.  In fact, there are only eight countries where English is the majority language, as a proportion of the native English population;  U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Ireland, South Africa, and New Zealand.

Of those countries, the Canadian government ② cautions against any non-essential travel to Nigeria.  Thus, from the few remaining countries, a Chinese citizen faces a difficult immigration hurdle to jump over.

Therefore, I looked elsewhere, and discovered 'International Living' ③, that appears to offer a treasure trove of information.  Unfortunately, some of the information appears to be out of date or in conflict with other destination information found elsewhere.  Nevertheless, it is a useful initial source.  For example, they provided me with a list of “Top Ten Retirement Havens” comprising the following;  Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, France, Panama, Nicaragua, Italy, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Belize.  Unfortunately, only three of these countries (France, Italy, and Uruguay) avoid the Canadian caution advisory against all forms of travel.  Therefore, to avoid strict European immigration rules, I concluded that Uruguay should be investigated.

Montevideo, Uruguay, has been named as the "second least expensive city in the world" ④ and, certainly, seems to show good value against the dollar.  It has a low poverty level, the second lowest level of corruption, and is the most developed and prosperous country in Latin America.  Between the years 2007 and 2009, Uruguay was the only country in the Americas that did not technically experience a recession.  Aesthetically, it is a very old-world European city, mainly as a result of the Spanish history, with minor British and Italian influences, and 85% of the population are of European origin.

Located within a temperate zone, Uruguay has a climate that is relatively mild and fairly constant nationwide.  Seasonal variations are pronounced, but extremes in temperature are rare.  Therefore, one may assume a closer investigation into our search for a haven is required.

To be continued, perhaps.

① wikipedia.com
② voyage.gc.ca
③ internationalliving.com
④ mercer.com