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.

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.