Top 10 Most DESIRABLE Countries in the WORLD! (according to 168,000 people polled)

all right it's that time of year again when everybody puts out their list of their top 10 countries you know we should really do one of our list JP I think we will next year next year we'll do our own list okay all right but this year we're going to use someone else's it's from Wander lus it's their 23rd annual readers travel Awards list of the 10 most desirable countries and the list starts with number 10 Peru well I was actually surprised that Peru made the top 10 but then I thought about it I'm like well I'm not surprised because hello Machu Picchu Peru has so much going on besides Machu Picchu of course yeah tons of natural and historic sites they've got desert mountains ocean Forest Peru has everything something for everybody what's great about it too is that it has a really affordable cost of living it has excellent produce they're known for their vibrant market and they have a really fascinating culture yeah everybody talks about how great the food scene is especially in Lima and some of the other cities so if you're a foodie I think has to be on your list but there are some drawbacks starting with some of the cities are at very high elevation so if you have altitude sickness then you're going to have to look at some of the low elevation places or if your dream is to move to a mountain town you probably want to cut Peru out of your list and if you do want to move to one of those big cities by the Sea then you're going to be dealing with traffic congestion and some air quality issues so that's probably not ideal either plus the public transport can be chaotic and the infrastructure can be inconsistent with power outages and they've been experiencing some political turmoil in recent years but that's pretty much that's like happening everywhere now so you really can't escape that so are you moving to the sea or to the ocean I know I just said it because it it sounded good the ocean I'm the one who always gets that wrong so I had to point it out all right their English proficiency is pretty low so if you want to live there outside of maybe one of the bigger cities you're going to need to learn Spanish say that every everywhere in Latin America you pretty much need to learn some Spanish yes you do uh and you should anyway there are some popular expat cities like lima Cusco and aripa they're working on improving the quality of the healthc care but it is lacking compared to some of the other countries on this list the nice thing is that Americans can visit on a tourist visa for up to 183 days so you could go and explore so much of Peru and live there for six months without even having to deal with a residency Visa yeah that's awesome better than Ecuador Ecuador's got the 90 plus you can extend it for 90 but man 183 off the bat that's awesome it is and they have some residency visas as well a retirement Visa you just have to have stable income they have investment work family tie so there's a few different ways that you can move to Peru and live there and a lot of Americans especially do live there all right number nine is South Korea we never talk about South Korea we don't very often and I'm not surprised this is on the list because it's a fascinating country I always think of South Korea as being the technology Hub of the world but there is a ton of history and culture there too and they have a vibrant food scene they're famous for their Korean barbecue they have safe cities low crime rates excellent public transportation and they have a growing xack Community especially in Soul one of the drawbacks though is the High Cost of Living especially in areas like soul and they do have some seasonal air quality issues with pollution and things like that so if you are one of those allergy sufferers make sure you do your research before you go to South Korea one of the major drawbacks for Americans is the time zone change and the distance so if you want to travel it's expensive and timec consuming if you want to talk to your family or do work back home the time change is brutal we know we're in the region right now and it's painful it is painful English proficiency is okay it's moderate there you're going to find English speakers in the major cities younger people and of course in the popular tourist areas but once you get outside of those areas then you're going to find a lot less English speakers some of the popular cities are sole of course as well as Busan and deu the healthcare is one of the best in the world in fact a lot of people travel there for healthc care they have the latest Technologies and they're cheaper than a lot of the other Western countries as far as tourist visas go Americans can stay for 90 days on their tourist visa but unfortunately you cannot extend that it's not that easy to move to South Korea either which is another reason why we don't talk about it often they do have the K-pop Visa so if you want to be in the K-pop scene they you can move there with that and they do have an E2 Visa available if you want to go there and teach English all right number eight on the list is Brazil every time we talk about Brazil because it is on our list of places if you want to have a high quality of life for a low cost of living and we always get comments from people who used to live there or from there saying don't go there it's too dangerous and then the other half the comments are like we live in Brazil now and love it I think it's the same in a lot of Latin American countries if you know where to avoid then you can stay safe most of the time and if you go to the dangerous SPS then it's kind of on you sorry well I feel like that's basically how it is all around the world yeah we get the same thing with Ecuador it's like oh it's so it's too dangerous we've lived there we lived there for six years through a lot of the bad stuff that made international news and we never felt unsafe no we didn't but we also didn't go where the crime was so you got to use your common sense yeah Brazil has so much going for the iconic landmarks like the Christ the Redeemer statue and iazu falls down in the South they have a lively culture with Samba basan NOA and the world famous Carnival and the people are so nice and friendly they really have a strong sense of community there which is fantastic and of course they have all of that natural beauty and those incredible beaches yeah the beaches there are just amazing the drawbacks though are the high crime rates in some of the urban areas and there's a lot of bureaucratic red tape if you want to get a residency Visa yeah it can definitely be rather tricky people do speak English in the major cities and the popular tourist areas however Portuguese is the official language there and you should definitely learn Portuguese if you want to live in Brazil some of the popular expat cities are sou Pao floriopolis kitaba and rayce they have a good public and private healthc care system and they do take a proactive approach to healthcare which is nice is coming from the US where it's reactive so the Visa situation is changing for people coming from the US and I believe Canada as well starting April 10th of 2025 you actually have to apply online for an e visa and that Visa is valid for 90 days you are able to extend it for an additional 90 days once you're in the country though they're limiting our states there darn it as far as ease of moving you they do have a retirement a digital Nomad and investor visas but the like we said The Residency Visa process can be slow and cumbersome if you want more details about the Visa requirements you can download our free residency Visa Matrix and our Visa options report they're included in our free move abroad toolkit which includes the top 30 countries report our move abroad plan a move abroad checklist the Visa options Matrix and Report the cost of moving a broad budget worksheet and the cost of living a broad budget worksheet but that's actually a lot when you say it all out it is there's a lot in this and it's totally free just scan this QR code right here or go to ailia jp.com toolkit so you can download it right now okay what's our next country the next country is South Africa we've don't often talk about African countries and then we always get a hard time for that in our comments for leaving Africa off we are going to be talking about more African countries coming up though yes we are I'm really excited about it and it's neat to talk about South Africa because boy you think about the safaries right and all the incredible Wildlife but there's a lot more to it although they are known for their natural yeah you can go see great white sharks too you know that right they do Shark Week a lot in South Africa oh I did not know that the stunning natural beauty in South Africa with Table Mountain and Cape winelands it's got an affordable cost of living but you can also have luxury experiences it's got rich cultural diversity and 11 official languages yeah that's incredible that is amazing although English is the primary language so it's good easy to communicate for us Americans there of course there are draw like there are everywhere in the world they do have high crime rates in certain areas they do have issues with power outages and there is definitely an inequality and poverty issue in the urban areas English proficiency is high not an issue there the popular expat cities are Cape Town Johannesburg and Durban among others there's others obviously they have a public and a private Health Care System Americans can visit Visa free for up to 90 days and you can extend one time for an additional 90 so a total of 180 days per year and they do have a retirement Visa so you can definitely go and retire in South Africa all right number six is Costa R we talk about this so much I'm not exactly sure what we're going to say that could be possibly new about it go if you haven't been go check it out Mike drop I'm sorry who is Mike drop yeah they do has Lush rainforest mountains beaches a lot of ecotourism Adventures it's a politically stable country with no standing army I don't think we've ever said that before they don't have an army yeah that is interesting they ditched their army and actually spend it on improving their country which is kind of a neat neat concept they have a strong focus on sustainability and conservation and they are known to have really friendly locals as well yeah they're Pita lifestyle or Pure Life yes all about being laidback some of the drawbacks are the higher cost of living especially compared to some of the other neighboring countries in Latin America heavy rainfall during the wet season they have a hurricane risk and they do have some infrastructure issues you'll find English speakers and a lot of the popular areas with expat and of course the tourist areas but once you want to go out to the rural areas and explore more you of course need to learn Spanish they do have a solid healthc care system it's affordable and reliable both a public and a private system like most countries have and it ranks among the best in Latin America Americans can now visit Costa Rica for up to 180 days so you can stay there for up to 6 months which is fantastic they have retirement and digital Nomad residency visas if you want to live there and they have investment and work visas as well number five another country we don't talk about very often is New Zealand yeah and the main reason is because you can't move there really as an American and well you can we we'll explain who can move there in a second but I mean New Zealand it's got a stunning natural beauty the fjords the beaches the mountains the Lord of the Rings tour you can go stay in a hobbit house I want to do that we're doing that is that still a thing cuz I feel like those movies are kind of outdated now you take that bear Timeless it's like that books that's true New Zealand is safe and familyfriendly unless you're a Sauron or somebody like that or an orc if you're in work watch out I think we might have made a mistake leaving the sh B oh gosh okay high quality public services at Healthcare and education are great I feel like the biggest drawback at least for is that it is so far it is a commitment to go to New Zealand so if you're going you definitely want to stay in that part of the world as long as you can and you're definitely going to have to deal with the time change especially if you're working or you need to get back home to deal with any sort of family issues it's going to be a challenge yeah the cost of living is pretty high especially in Auckland and there's a major earthquake risk they're on the ring of fire and they get hit pretty regularly they just had a really bad one a few years ago oh yeah I do remember that of course English is spoken there so if you're an English speaker you're not going to have any issues Auckland Wellington Christ Church are all popular areas but there's a ton of popular spots in New Zealand the healthc care is excellent they have a public and a private system however the wait time can be long for the public system imagine that Americans can visit Visa free for up to 90 days which really kind of stinks I wish it was at least 180 days we had to go so far to get there let us stay for six months New Zealand but 90 days is still that's still three months I'll take it yeah UK if you're from the UK you can stay for 180 days are you jealous I am a little bit yeah all right so it's not very easy to move to New Zealand they do have a working holiday Visa but you have to be between 18 and 30 to qualify for that so I'm pretty sure nobody watching this video will qualify for that yeah if you're one of the three people in our audience in that age group then check it out otherwise you have to be rich to move there because the investor V Visa is $1 million don't you think we should maybe ask for more than a million dollar $15 million yeah that's a little too steep for us just a tiny bit very few people that are going to be willing to invest $15 million in New Zealand just to get a residency visa and not even a passport just a Visa oh that's right you're right yeah so you have better options for sure yeah number four is not one of those better options number four on this list is the United States we never talk about the us at least as a place to move to because most of you want to leave the US however it did make this list because they pulled travelers from all over the world and the US is a beautiful country we love it we are so thankful to be from the United States and it's provided us with the opportunity to do this full-time travel we're thankful to be from there AB well and it is an incredibly diverse country I mean the United States is massive so when you think about all of the variety of things that you can experience on a trip to the US I mean you just can't go wrong yeah we lived in Colorado one of the most beautiful places on the planet but I've been to at least 37 States I kind of lost count I think I've been to more now but every state has something different to offer and they're all beautiful and it's amazing it's an amazing country it I just it's sad there's there's so many things that are wrong with it right now which is frustrating one of the reasons why we left and one of those is the healthc care the costs are ridiculous they have like the highest cost for health care of any developed any country in the world it's got the most expensive Health Care System but the worst outcomes pretty much for all developed countries so there are some developing countries that have better health outcomes than the US it's that's really frustrating for us it is frustrating for us and if you're a tourist and you want to come you need to make sure you have good travel insurance because it can be expensive if you need to go and get Emergency Care in the United States so be prepared your trip bankrupt so please get yourself covered if you're not from the US and you're going to visit there you know there's a lot of political turmoil right now as well it it's expensive in the places where you want to go if you want to go to like rural Kansas it's pretty cheap although even that's getting more expensive now but the cost of living is really high which is why a lot of you are probably looking at leaving you can visit there's a lot of countries that are able to get a 90-day tourist visa moving to the US is not as easy it's easier if you have family members that are already there or if you're a skilled worker but you're definitely going to deal with a lot of bureaucracy like you do in almost every other country yeah I think that's enough but from the US you're probably already living there if you're watching this video so and if you are watching this and you're thinking about leaving the United States be sure to hit the Subscribe button and give this video a like as well so that YouTube will show you more of our videos when we post them because we talk about how to leave the United States primarily and either move abroad or slow travel okay what's the next country oh number three Japan yeah this is another one that comes up a lot in our comment section A lot of people want to move to Japan and it's easy to understand why it's it's an amazing country they have so much going for it with the ancient Traditions futuristic technology it's like Blade Runner there they have excellent public transportation Clean Cities they have the seasonal events like the Cherry Blossom Festival that would be so cool to see and they have snow festivals too yeah I don't when I think in Japan I don't think of winter which is silly because they have a lot of winter going on there especially in the north there are some drawbacks like the High Cost of Living especially in the bigger cities they also have limited space available and they do have some strict immigration policy so it's not an easy place to move to yeah they pretty much Deport you if you try to overstate your welcome so keep that in mind English proficiency is pretty low around the country but it's higher in the urban areas and so you're probably going to need to learn some Japanese if you want to live there some of the popular xat cities are Tokyo Osaka Kyoto and ngoya so our friends William and Linda told us ngoya is one of their most favorite places in the world and they've been all over the world so I think that says a lot they have a excellent Public Health Care System you cannot go wrong with Public Health Care in Japan what's great about that is if you're a tourist and you're staying for longer than three months so if you're working towards some sort of residency or an extended state you can use the public healthare system but if you're going to be there for Less you need to make sure you have travel insurance Americans can stay Visa free for up to 90 days that's nice again though I wish it was six months like some of the other countries but you get what you 90 days is better have to do you can always bounce around with some of the other countries yes they have some visas it's not easy to move there it's why we don't talk about it often they have a work visa for skilled workers they or if you want to go there to teach English they have a Visa program for that and if you want to go there and start a business they have a Visa for that as well and that could be to start a guest house or something like that we I read an article recently about a couple who moved to Japan and opened up a guest house and they used that to qualify for their business Visa yeah that's a really fun idea that's exciting yeah a little B&B that'd be cool it would all right number two again we don't talk about Canada because a lot of you are wanting to leave Canada I actually I really really like Canada I have not visited the Eastern side but I've been to a lot of places in western Canada and it is absolutely beautiful and Canadians I find you to be very lovely people truly OD to America's Garfield Vancouver one of my most favorite places in the world and if it was affordable we would consider living there such a cool City love that City Canada has so much going for it's about the same size as the us but only 15% of the population so you can walk for days and never see another human being so if you want to be an isolationist that's your place yeah just dress warm yeah well they actually have really nice Summers yeah they do it is a it's such a beautiful country the natural beauty there is stunning some of the drawbacks are the harsh Winters and especially well in most regions housing costs are pretty high especially in Vancouver and Toronto and some of the other areas there's lots of English speakers since that is one of the official languages but they do also speak French there Canadians let us know in the comments what you think about your health care System we get mixed re reviews on that as well some people complain about it taking for other forever others talk about how they're thankful they had it because they had a catastrophic illness and don't owe any money for it Americans can travel to Canada Visa free for 80 days so the closest neighbor we can go stay for six months but the other ones are 90 days the farthest ones are 90 days I I have a problem with that I'm a little bitter New Zealand New Zealand we're talking about you it's not as easy to move to Canada as some Americans think it just they're not like moving to another state so you just can't say okay well I'm just going to move to Canada and just show up they will not let you do that so you do have to apply for a Visa yeah they don't have a lot of Visa options they don't they don't have a retirement Visa or a digital Nomad Visa but they do have skilled worker visas and they do have other programs so if you want to go to school to University there and then work there I met a lot of people during my career that had done just that number one on the list is Australia I guess I'm kind of surprised to see that I don't know if I'm surprised by that Australia is an extremely diverse country I think it's everybody's dream to go to Australia because it's still kind of exotic seems like it's like the ends of the Earth to me so it's got tons of things going for amazing beaches Wildlife you can go see kangaroos and koalas they have high quality Health Care system and an education system laidback lifestyle tons of outdoor activities if you want to go to the Outback and camp for days that's where you're going to do it yeah and of course it's a fully developed country so you've got these exciting vibrant cities as well some of the drawbacks are the High Cost of Living and we know we have a lot of Australian viewers who are also looking at leaving for the same reason that people from the US and Canada are looking to leave Americans are going there and they're going to America it's kind of weird but I guess if you're not from there it's the grass does seem Greener absolutely well that's a new experience yeah they do have some seasonal brush fires and extreme weather they can get really hot in the summer especially in the northern part a big drawback for me is again how far it is from the United States so if you are working and you need to schedule meetings that could be pretty tricky and obviously if you want to get back home if you have an eer that could be quite the challenge and it could be pretty expensive so English is the primary language so you're not going to have any problem communicating some of the popular cities are Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth I always wanted to go to Perth it just seems like it's at the end of the Earth to me same with adelade I mean they're so they're so far out there and they do have good health care I know maybe some Australians won't agree although we hear from a lot of people that you're really happy with your Healthcare System it is ranked as an excellent system Australia has a really fting tourist visa for Americans we can go for 90 days but you can leave the country for a couple of days and go back for an additional 90 days and you can keep doing this for up to a year it is completely legal it is on their government website yeah we'll put a link to that yeah so in case you don't believe us and if it's wrong please let your government know and we also one another reason we don't talk about Australia much is because it's not easy to move there especially if you're older like we are or retired they have a work Visa so if you're young with a valuable skill set you can probably go get their visa for that they do have investment and retirement visas but they're really expensive cost prohibitive for most people as a reminder this is not our list we will put a link to the original source which is wandless so you can read their methodology are you surprised by any of the top 10 countries that are on it just let us know in the comments below and please remember to download that free move abroad toolkit and check out this video next if you're thinking about moving abroad or Soul traveling that's all have for this video thank you so much for watching and before you go hit the Subscribe button and leave us a like and we will see you all next time ciao CIA