Retirement ranked across cost, healthcare, climate, English use, visa, and tax. Valletta at 9.0, Porto at 8.9, Cuenca at 8.8.
Valletta Malta leads the 2026 retirement table at 9.0. Porto Portugal at 8.9. Cuenca Ecuador at 8.8. Lisbon Portugal at 8.7. Chiang Mai Thailand at 8.6.
1 Valletta 9.0, 2 Porto 8.9, 3 Cuenca 8.8, 4 Lisbon 8.7, 5 Chiang Mai 8.6, 6 Penang 8.5, 7 Mexico City 8.4, 8 Medellin 8.4, 9 Algarve 8.3, 10 Coimbra 8.2, 11 Alicante 8.2, 12 Malaga 8.1, 13 Granada 8.1, 14 Crete 8.0, 15 Limassol 8.0, 16 Tbilisi 7.9, 17 Buenos Aires 7.9, 18 Santiago 7.8, 19 Boquete 7.8, 20 Hanoi 7.7, 21 Bali 7.7, 22 Kuala Lumpur 7.6, 23 Phuket 7.6, 24 Cebu 7.5, 25 Dubrovnik 7.4.
The retirement index weights 6 factors. Healthcare quality, 30 percent. Cost of living for a couple on 3,800 dollars or less, 25 percent. Climate, 15 percent. Visa, 12 percent. English use, 10 percent. Tax burden on US Social Security and 401(k), 8 percent. The full methodology covers the working weights.
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