The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia rank higher than the US and the UK in a new annual index of retirement security compiled by Natixis Global Asset Management, an asset manager with $779 billion under management.
The index combines 20 indicators grouped into 4 major categories - health, material well-being, finances and quality of life - to gauge how well retired citizens live in 150 countries.
A mean score for each category was calculated and the category scores were combined for the final overall rankings.
Based on these measures, Slovenia ranked 16th, the Czech Republic 17th and Slovakia 18th. The United States ranked 19th while the United Kingdom was on the 20th place.
The first 10 ranks were dominated by Western European countries, backed by strong health care and social security programs.
The best country to retire in was Norway, followed by Switzerland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and France. The highest-ranking non-European country is Australia, on the 11th place, followed by Israel and Canada. Japan was ranked 15th.
Among the largest emerging market economies known as the BRICs, Brazil ranked 40th, Russia was on the 70th place, China on the 73rd and India was placed at 101.
Among the worst countries to retire in were some of the African states, with Zimbabwe ranking last, on the 15th place.
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