The latest Global Retirement Index by investment management firm Natixis has found that Switzerland is one of the best places in the world to spend your later years. However, while Swiss healthcare and pensions were praised, the study found that living standards for the elderly have declined since last year, both in Switzerland and abroad.

Global Retirement Index by Natixis

The Global Retirement Index by Natixis is designed to provide insight into which countries are best to retire in, and how other countries can follow their best practice. To create the index, data from 44 different countries are analysed through the following categories:

• Health (spending on health insurance, life expectancy and healthcare spending)
• Quality of life (air quality, environmental factors, happiness and water quality)
• Material well-being (salaries, income equality and unemployment)
• Finances in retirement (pensions, inflation, taxes and interest rates)

Each nation is compared and given a percentage score in each category. A total average of all categories is then used to calculate the final ranking.

2022 was a bad year to go on pension, says Natixis

In this year's report, Natixis concluded that 2022 was “a bad year to retire.” This year’s ranking, called Danger Zone, highlighted that global inflation, rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine have put significant strain on retirees and their finances.

Along with the short-term risks, Natixis said that most countries at the top of the ranking have ageing populations and that many may struggle to finance their pension and social security programmes in the future. For example. in Switzerland they predicted that 54,4 percent of the population would be out of the workforce by 2050, putting significant pressure on the government in trying and fund their generous programmes.

Switzerland one of the best places in the world to retire

In 2022, Switzerland was ranked as the second-best place in the world to retire with an overall score of 80 percent. The alpine nation was just pipped to the post by Norway, which overtook Switzerland and Iceland to claim the top spot. Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands rounded out the top seven with Germany just missing out on the top 10, placing 11th.

Despite ranking in second place in 2022, Switzerland’s score has fallen by 1 percent since last year, something the ranking blames on a decline in the quality of life, material well-being and finances categories. The ranking was also quick to mention that while the country still finds itself at the forefront in many areas, its score has declined by 5 percent since 2012.

In each category, Switzerland was ranked 14th in material well-being, fifth in quality of life, fourth in health and second in finances. As the Swiss economy is set to fare better than the rest of Europe, it is perhaps unsurprising that inflation was Switzerland’s best sub-category, scoring a perfect 100 percent, while its worst categories were “tax pressure” and the ratio of pensioners to workers in Switzerland.

Best countries in the world for retirement in 2022

In all, the best countries for retirement in the world in 2022 are:

• 1. Norway (81 percent)
• 2. Switzerland (80 percent)
• 3. Iceland (79 percent)
• 4. Ireland (76 percent)
• =5. Australia (75 percent)
• =5. New Zealand (75 percent)
• =5. Luxembourg (75 percent)
• =5. The Netherlands (75 percent)
• 9. Denmark (74 percent)
• 10. Czechia (73 percent)

For more information, and to see how the ranking is calculated, check out the Natixis website.