Written exclusively for Expat Network by Compare the Market

Despite the obvious factors such as career and distance from friends and family, what else should be on your agenda to ensure you will be living healthily when considering living or working abroad?

Compare the Market wanted to discover which socio-economic factors had the most positive correlation with high life expectancies for nations across the world and have conducted their Key to a Long Life study to reveal the best places for expats to move to.

Why Medical Care Should be a Priority When Choosing Which Country to Relocate to

It’s not surprising that the study reveals health should be at the top of the list when researching potential countries to start anew.

Nutrition and basic medical care proved to be the number one factor to living a long life as it has an impressive +89.53% positive correlation to higher life expectancies across global nations. Basic medical care is vital to ensuring individuals live as long as they possibly can. As an expat, ensuring that you research the national medical services, health insurance policies and local hospitals should be undertaken as one of the first steps of your journey to living abroad.

Countries With Clean Environments Rank Highly for Health

It’s also not too much of a surprise to state that those who live in countries with cleaner environments live longer, but just how much of an impact does the environmental quality of a country really have on life expectancies around the world?

When comparing the top 15 cleanest countries to the bottom 15, such as Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Uzbekistan and Cameroon, the study found that the difference in average life expectancies was 19.65 years. This means that countries with cleaner environments live for almost two decades longer than those with unclean ones. Countries who rank highly for clean environments include Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and the UK.

Top 10 Countries Expats Should Relocate to

The following list reveals the countries who rank highly for nutrition and medical care; the highest ranking factor for life longevity for all countries.

European nations take the crown as the best continent for nutrition and medical care with nine out of the top 10 countries in the list located here. Expats looking to head to Europe are spoilt for choice as these high ranking countries offer not only some of the best medical care and quality environments in the world, but cities buzzing with history, iconic landmarks and culture.

1. Finland – 99.65
2. Iceland – 99.54
3. Austria – 99.53
4. Cyprus – 99.51
5. Italy – 99.5
6. Sweden – 99.46
7. Estonia – 99.46
8. Australia – 99.43
9. Switzerland – 99.42
10. Slovenia – 99.41

Other high ranking factors for high life expectancies around the world include access to the internet, wealth per capita and adult literacy rate.

From world-class medical care to wealth per capita, it seems there really are a number of factors to consider when making the jump to another country. To view the results of the Key to a Long Life study in full, please visit Compare the Market.