October 12 2017; Quality of life is no doubt one of the deciding factors for many when deciding where to live; as it turns out, Croatia has a very high quality of life, even ahead of France and Ireland.
When you are deciding where to live and where to raise your children, what is the most important thing to you? Work, Nature, Travel, Crime, Cost of living… Well, the Quality of Life Index takes all of these factors to establish which countries worldwide have the best Quality of Life. Key areas are broken down into: cost of living, property prices, crime, health care, pollution, traffic, travel and overall quality of life.
I am from New Zealand and when Croatians discover that I have moved from New Zealand to live here in Croatia, the first question is – “why?” Everyone is always stunned that I would choose to live here as New Zealand has a high quality of life and living or visiting New Zealand is a dream of most every Croatian I speak to. I have also moved here in a time where more youth are leaving the country, Germany accounts for more than 50% of Croatia’s citizens who have emigrated and 5% to Ireland.
Though there are no exact figures of the number of Croatians in Ireland, it has been estimated at around 20,000 and it comes up in conversation quite regularly here; which is why I was extremely surprised to find that Croatia is ahead of Ireland in quality of life.
Croatia ranked 18 out of 56 Listed Countries
Out of 56 countries listed, Croatia comes in 18th, ahead of France (19), Ireland (21), Belgium (23) and Italy (33).
Cost of Living
To look into it a little further, the key areas are made up of several factors. Under cost of living, things like: childcare, clothing, markets, restaurants, transport, utilities and apartments were taken into account.
In Croatia, the average cost of an apartment per m2 is €1232, in Ireland €3134 and in France €3510. In a worldly comparison the US is around €1334, New Zealand €2628 and sitting in position number 1 (not the place you want to be in this chart), is Hong Kong with €13,683 per m2.
The price of a meal for 2 in a medium-ranged restaurant was also calculated. Croatia: €33.20, Ireland: €65.32, France: €59.38.
Overall, Croatia ranked 51 out of 115 countries listed for cost of living. However, bear in mind with these price analyses that average wage or unemployment hasn’t been taken into consideration.
Credit: Zinfandel Food and Wine
Croatia one of the safest countries to live
Again, this is a chart where you don’t want to be sitting at number 1, this unfavourable position goes to Venezuela with the highest crime rate. Croatia can be very proud of sitting at number 92 out of 110 countries with a crime index ranking of 28.14.
Or, rather than talking about crime, let’s talk about safety. Out of 110 countries, Croatia is ranked 18th, behind countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Qatar and Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia… Whereas, Croatia beats likes of Luxembourg, Germany, UK, Italy, Ireland… even New Zealand!
This is something I can definitely attest to, not once have I ever felt unsafe living here, walking the streets by myself. Whereas, when I lived in Italy, I felt uncomfortable walking the streets, getting cat-called constantly, aggressive beggars, merchants…
Croatia is safe, it is a country where children can and do, play on the streets without fear of anything unsavoury happening. There are no prominent issues with drugs (something even New Zealand is struggling with) nor physical violence and assaults. This is the world to me.
Credit: Romulic and Stojcic
Croatia has low pollution
Countries with the worst pollution came from Africa, India, and Asia and, as to be expected, the least-polluted countries were: Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Sweden… New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria… Croatia comes in at a very healthy 74 out of 91 countries listed.
Credit: Romulic and Stojcic
Croatia has low average wage
One factor not accounted for in the quality of life index is the average wage. Croatia is behind Italy, Greece, France and Ireland. The average wage in Croatia is €1064 per month, compared to Ireland €3133. So, cost of living becomes relative.
Croatia is far from perfect, as I just wrote yesterday, Croatia is ranked near the bottom for gender equality, wages are low, unemployment is high and let’s not talk about the politics…
However, there is a lot to embrace here. I am carving a life in this country and am hopeful that these areas will improve and more people will realise how lucky we are to live here but more so – what incredible potential this country has, if only the uhljebs had nothing to do with it…
See the full report here.
