Where in the world to live where people are cared about?

[Feathersandothers]

That’s it really . If you live somewhere where people have access to good healthcare, affordable bills, access to good free education , low crime .. where is it? Nowhere is perfect but some places must be better.
I didn’t live in the UK for most of my adult life, but I am British.
I’ve lived here for the past few years and don’t think I can do it much longer .
But I’m aware that places that I lived that were good before COVID etc are probably feeling the ramifications of global issues as we are here.
So if you live in a place where it feels that the government have your back, where are you?

Admittedly this was a few years ago, but I used to have a friend who grew up in a beautiful, prosperous town in Northern Italy - think Beverly or Buxton type place. She loved living in London and when I asked why, she said she didn't fear crime in London, that at home everyone had lockable metal shutters installed on everything because crime was so rife and wouldn't even consider having a window open at night. Taught me that you never know somewhere until you live there.

I don't think crime rates in northern Italy are particularly high. It's more about perceptions, which brings me back to my previous post about how levels of mutual trust are very low in Italy.

This. Healthcare in many places (including the uk) is top notch if you can afford to pay for it. Same with education.

@IcedPurple I understand scandi countries are not everyone's cup of tea, but from someone who actually lives here (me..and i know technically finland is not scandi) it is a good place to live.
Winters are long, but you can do lots of stuff with and on the snow. Summers are amazing, the freedom to roam in the forests and swim anywhere you like is just great.
Social security is still ok. Public healthcare has taken a hit with covid and nurses are unhappy, but treatment is still available and works well. What else..safe cycling paths are everywhere, schools are free and good quality. Our neighbours are nice and our doorbell is always ringing with local kids asking our kids to come and play outside. We even have several Uk and other international friends and an active social life. Needless to say that we are not looking to move back any time soon 😅

DS2 and DIL are currently visiting from Finland. Horrified by how rundown our nearest town has become. And horrified that his GF died having waited 4.5 hours for an ambulance, then waited 2 hours queuing to get into a&e before being diagnosed with and dying of sepsis. And, despite him being a student and never having inherited a penny, they have enough deposit saved in 2 years for the deposit on a 2 bed flat. Looking at 1 that has been recently renovated to a good standard for €130,000 in a major city. Booze and eating out are expensive but electric and housing are cheaper and those are essentials not nice to haves.

I think part of the problem is the decades of mobility. When I was young I grew up in a small village. Most people in the village had lived there for generations. Everyone knew everyone else and watched out for people.

That same village now has largely been bought up by wealthy people thinking it was a quaint place to live. They have no history in the village, don't work in the village or employ the locals. Nobody cares about them and they don't care about anyone else. It comes down to a change in culture.

I don’t think that’s generally true. All countries have their issues and things like inflation that are an issue in the uk at the moment are an issue everywhere

Have you ever looked at actual crime stats for the UK instead of just looking at horror headlines? The UK has VERY low crime, excellent national health and is generally a very friendly place to live. I’m a foreigner and chose to immigrate here for many of the above reasons.

Sounds like you are reading too many sensationalist news articles. The Netherlands and most of the Nordics also have similar cost of living issues arising and have similar crime rates to the UK.

People moan about the weather here but the U.K. has a very mild and moderate weather patterns with lovely warm summers and it never gets too cold in the winter. I would be seriously terrified to live anywhere at the moment where the temperatures plummet so low you could actually freeze to death with the looming energy crisis this year. The winters are so so long and dark and it is the reason why there is a serious and long standing problem of alcoholism.
The standard of living in Finland is extremely low compared to the U.K and I found they were very behind in many ways.
Add having a border with Russia - and hand on heart I feel we have a much, much better life here onetwo The summers were horribly drizzly when we were there with a million mosquitoes!!it never fully warmed up before winter arrived, that’s why so many are depressed. Sweden was similar too although they are more wealthy and can holiday more often.

Does anybody know what life in South Korea is like? Real life that is, not K-drama life 😂
I have the impression of a very safe, community minded country with good healthcare. No idea about cost or standard of living though.
I also get the impression that it's very traditional in some ways, puritanical even, but as I said, my sources are unreliable 😄

Extremely expensive!

I think some people on this thread won't be happy anywhere.
Like the people who say on 'wanted down under' - 'if we move to Oz we'll be able to go for a walk and to a park' or any other thing you can do in the Uk. Then they get there and prefer the Uk. What a surprise.

SK is safe yes, but not sure about the 'community minded' thing.

It's a brutally competitive society where it's so hard to combine motherhood with a career that an entire generation of women has basically given up having babies. Dramas like Squid Game and the film Parasite are allegories of this extremely tough society.

Ummm... everyone in Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore lives in a tiny flat. I don't think British people are willing to do that. There are so many threads here about how bringing up DC in flat is child abuse or even sharing a room. People in those cities share.

@IcedPurple that's really interesting. Even in tv dramas it's really clear that people are very status and career orientated, afraid of failing in the eyes of society.

It's been called the most Confucian society in the world, even more so than China.

I don't think you're saying anything different to what I said.

What I'm saying though is that some countries are coping better with global challenges than others, and that's just a matter of fact. There are plenty of different ways to quantify standards of living, as the below link explains.

While it's from 2021, I think it's unlikely that every single country listed has dropped down to our level in just a single year.

I'm not saying there are no upsides to living in the UK. There are plenty, and I feel quite privileged to live here, as many countries are worse off. That doesn't change the fact that Brexit and Johnson's government combined have been an absolute shitshow and a national embarrassment. Without those factors, we could be enjoying a much better standard of living in the UK right now (global issues notwithstanding).

worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/standard-of-living-by-country

Surely this is based on a fictional novel ?

everyone in Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore lives in a tiny flat

Korea is a beautiful and fascinating country, but yes, urban living is compact. Also, I can’t speak for Tokyo or Singapore, but in cities in Korea flats in tower blocks are sought after whereas in UK they’re not universally loved.

@shinynewapple22
its a documentary series (the Real Marigold Hotel) based on a screenplay (the best exotic Marigold hotel) , which in turn was based on the 2004 novel by Deborah Moggach (These Foolish Things). It was designed to show whether OAPs who retire to India are less lonely, enjoy a lower cost of living, better healthcare etc than in the UK.
So a reality series based on fiction.

The highest number of migrants are British so clearly it suits many.

I couldn’t speak for non-white British. Certainly there is racism here. Is it worse than the UK? If they say so then I would believe them.

Auckland is the most diverse city in the world, statistically, but it isn’t truly diverse in that different ethnicities live in pockets. Having said that, it is a very young city compared with most other big cities so I expect this will be quite different in 20yrs time.

There is a new histories curriculum being rolled out at the moment so for the first time New Zealand school children will be taught about colonisation. Previously it has been whitewashed. This is a hugely exciting development and the reaction from those involved in the trials is deeply emotional, joy, grief, excitement… it really does feel like the dawn of a new era.

Aside from the energy costs rising that I mentioned yesterday, just thought I'd come back and add a few more things about my experience living in Denmark.

Have lived here for over a decade, learnt the language, got a job and hobbies etc. The weather is on a par with Northumberland where we are, so no different to being in the UK.

Everything works here, everything is looked after. Roads and cycle paths are maintained. The local and central governments invest in the future and look after what they have.

Sports and hobbies receive a lot of external funding. My kids can try any hobby and it will likely only cost between £50 and £100 a year. They've done skating, curling, tae kwando, sailing, kayaking, climbing, floorball, gymnastics, scouts, basketball, rifle shooting, music instruments etc....

You can always get a GP appointment. I have never not been able to get a same day appointment if one of us is unwell, and within a week for minor things like schedule injections. When you go to the dr's you have a blood test and wait for the result before being seen by the dr (so all on the same day unless they need to grow cultures overnight). So you can ring up at 8am, be tested by the nurse at 9am, see the dr at 9:30am and collect a prescription from the pharmacy on your way home. A few weeks ago I had a referral to ENT clinic, referral sent by dr at 9:30am, I rang the ENT at 10:30am and was asked to come in at 13:30. At that appointment I was examined, scanned and had a camera put down my throat and given results there and then. It is all very joined up and future forward thinking. This summer my child broke a bone at school. It happened about 10am. By 2pm I have collected them, taken them to hospital, they had been examined, x-rayed, plastered and were on the way back to the car (parked in a free hospital carpark 5 minutes walk from A+E). We've never waited more than an hour to be seen in out of hours or A+E, even on a Friday or weekend. When any of us have been in hospital we have had a room to ourselves, en suite.

My kids go to a local private school, max 22 kids in a class with teacher and TA. Subsidised by the government so the fees are £200 in total all in a month. One kids is on an overnight school trip. Cost £30 all in for everything, accommodation, transport, food etc...

Space - we have so much space it is unbelievable. Our house cost less than £200k and that's for five bedrooms, huge garden, off street parking for five cars, workshop, garage, etc.... I don't hear my neighbours at all. We are on the outskirts of a city and have access to beach and forests within five minutes walk. I can cycle in to city centre on bike paths all the way within 15 minutes.

Crime - I rarely see a police officer. Crime is very low where we are.

Food costs are rising but still manageable.
Transport costs are very reasonable. A journey between two major cities from one side of the country to another is about £50 if you don't book it in advance. If you plan and get an 'orange' ticket deal, you can get it return for about £20 and kids under twelve travel free with you.

It is hard making connections to the locals, but if you stick it out and learn the language you eventually make those connections through work and hobbies. Took us about 2-3 years!

I would never go back to the UK now. The resources are stretched so thin there.

That was intended to be boastful, by the way, just trying to give a picture of life here as asked for in the OP.

WASN'T (!!!)