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?

love the typo. Anyway, I'd be boasting, in your shoes.

How on earth are house prices so low, what's different about the system over there? Is it subsidised in some way, or do you just not have the buy-to-let culture that we do? Or is it a lot easier to get funding/permission for new builds?

Northern Europe in general. We love in Germany and it feels like this.

House prices crazy high though.

Impressed that you learnt Danish in such a short time. I speak and read 3 languages but I can't seem to learn any more in my 50s.

Iceland is perfect for me, but it wouldn't suit everyone.

You do get pretty good services and some areas are definitely better than the UK. Heating costs peanuts because of the incredible geothermal resources the country has. Iceland is not isolated from the impact of rising global energy costs, of course, but it certainly helps when your country is producing all that sustainable energy from its own resources. I live in a lovely safe community where children are free to start developing independence much earlier than British children. Childcare and early years provision is dramatically more affordable than in the UK. It is so beautiful. The language and the culture are amazing, in my opinion.

On the other hand, some areas are definitely worse. Notably the weather, though I do enjoy a cool climate personally the storms get very boring. I also think that an Icelandic politician would have to commit actual murder before they resigned. You think it took a long time for Boris Johnson to resign - he should come to Iceland, he'd be an MP for life. They NEVER resign.

For me, I couldn't think of a better place to raise my children, but others would hate it despite the advantages I see.

There just isn't the pressure on the housing stock. Not so many people and lots of land and not so many people. If you want to be sick, take a look at the Danish version of RightMove boligsiden.dk and see what you can get for your current house price!!!

As a POC I would find it hard to live in a place without at least some POC. Not that any country is gagging to have me!

Also the British sense of humour and the general friendliness and diversity of London is hard to beat.

This one is about 265K and commuting distance (15 mins drive) to Aarhus www.nybolig.dk/villa/8362/gungdyvej/104338/16894?utm_source=boligsiden.dk&utm_campaign=boligsiden&utm_medium=exitlinks

It has been a hard, hard slog!

@jillymcnilly and that garden!!

I think I need to hear the downsides of Denmark, apart from having to wrap your head around a new language. Come on, there must be face-eating spiders or something.

Pickled herring? But even that isn't compulsory

Sometimes I think I am the only person on MN who doesn't want a garden:) Apartment living all the way for me!

DS2s complaint about Finland is he can't find a decent Chinese restaurant. Maybe it's the same in Denmark.

I think you really are! So you'd be able to afford a penthouse with a rooftop infinity pool and a couple of helipads.

I would love that!:)

Downsides- scrabbling around here...

Shopping is shit unless you're near a reasonable sized city
No hills or mountains really - gosh I miss the hills having moved from the Lake District!!!
The language is really hard to learn (for me anyway)
Eating out can cost an arm and a leg, with drinks being the most expensive item (50-60kr for a coke about £6-£7)
Can be a bit rubbish in winter weather-wise and not a lot going on culturally.
Shops close early at the weekend (this is getting better since we first moved here)
We don't have the range of foodstuffs that you get in a UK supermarket - but then we are fewer people and more spread out, so logistically it mustn't make sense to stock everything in every shop. Means you have to plan carefully for a special meal and maybe hit the local Asian shop for rarer ingredients
Good curry and Chinese and fish n chips are few and far between - we have to try and make our own to get by.

That's about it really. Oh and the feckin' import charges on anything coming from the UK caused by feckin' Brexit.

Life is only good in singapore if you have a good expat contract or become a citizen/permanent resident so that you can buy government flats at a significant discount (as low as the equivalent of £150k for 2/3 bedrooms), get 80% off healthcare costs etc Otherwise its very expensive. But part of the social contract is that you (and your children) have to stay on the straight and narrow. I just read a report that an Olympic swimmer in Singapore (indeed our only sportsman who has ever won an Olympic gold medal ever), Joseph Schooling, has been suspended from competitions because he consumed cannabis in Vietnam aka not even in the country. Apparently citizens can be prosecuted for consuming drugs overseas ( i am a citizen who has never taken drugs but i did not know this lol). He is also not allowed to take part in training during national service because of this (and a sportsman's career is so very short). He had to 'apologize to the nation'. The whole country is now scolding him.

I am sure I will never take drugs but I cannot preclude a future child of mine would have zero error in judgment. I mean, Joseph Schooling is an overall good egg from what I can see; his parents were extremely loving and committed, he had a good education, he is extremely driven but even he can experience such a lapse in judgement. its incidents like this that make me glad I am in London because life in singapore is good when you stay on the straight and narrow and while you can control your actions, you may not always be able to control the actions of the people you love. in the uk, when you make a mistake (as long as its not too drastic), there will be people who will love you and help you.

apartment living all the way for me too! I am not British though lol.. though i did grow up with a garden but we never used it.

the average flat in singapore is the same size as the average uk semi detached.

www.teoalida.com/singapore/HDB-1996-1998-5I-corridor-end-121sqm.png

Unless you have more than 2 children, you don't need to share with this- there is also a study.

Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. It's to do with the very long, very dark winters I think.

That sounds lovely @jillymcnilly

Regarding fuel costs in scandi countries - in Denmark the majority of homes and public buildings are heated and receive hot water through communal town heating. It saves waste, keeps prices low and pretty much eliminates fuel poverty.

I totally get what you're saying, OP. I'm married to a Dane, and my kids have automatic Danish citizenship at the moment. We chose to live in the UK when we got together, about 20 years ago, but all of the benefits to living here rather than DK are vanishing. Freedom of movement, obviously, but now things that I'd considered really basic, like you: decent education, decent public healthcare, access to a dentist, quality public services, outdoor spaces. I don't think they're available in UK anymore. My husband can't get a dentist. Not even a private one, I worry that if anything happened to one of us, we could easily die waiting for an ambulance. (After calling 111 recently, they ordered an ambulance to come to us. We waited 3 hours, at which point the ambulance service called me back and told me they couldn't get anyone to us for 7 more hours at least. I had to get everyone up and drive us to A&E, which is fine, but that's not the sort of service I'd expect. What if it had been more urgent? (We didn't know the urgency, we aren't medically trained, but 111 thought it was urgent). What if we'd not had a car? The whole situation really shook me and made me realise, for the first time in my life, that in an emergency, the emergency services probably can't help me in a timely fashion).

I know that schools and unis there are crazy competitive. They have ‘cram schools’ and it doesn’t sound like a fun place to be a kid.

I'm in Sweden and think it's a much kinder culture than other places I've lived. People often say it's expensive but I don't think that's true. If you're a visitor the prices seem high, but if you live here you'll have a proper living wage, pretty much free childcare, free education and university grants, much cheaper housing etc. Which means you have more disposal cash and can afford the prices.

This is exactly it @KarmaComma

I experienced something similar with an ambulance. It was a category 1 emergency, no ambulance was available for hours. The outcome wasn’t good.
It’s terrifying.
Life in Denmark sounds lovely @jillymcnilly 😊