Ranked: 100 best countries for remote workers

The 100 best countries for remote workers have been ranked for 2023 with Portugal taking the top spot. Read our insights from the study

Portugal was named the best country for remote workers thanks to its visa and digital nomad schemes as well as its great weather, safety and high English proficiency. Its capital, Lisbon, was named the best city for remote workers. Other countries that performed well were Spain, Romania, Mauritius and Japan.

Kayak, the world’s leading travel search engine, has published its Work from Wherever Index. The study ranks over 100 countries and territories based on 22 factors that included entry and visa restrictions, local costs, safety and security, internet speed, weather and social life.

Blue-sky thinking

The pandemic may have locked people down, but it also freed many employees from the office. Increasing numbers of workers have jumped on a plane, laptops in their hand luggage, and set off in search of a better work-life balance. In response, several visitor-starved destinations launched innovative schemes to entice remote workers and make it easier to stay for longer.

Already a popular destination with expats, Portugal was one of the first countries to respond and launched the world's first digital nomad village, Digital Nomads Madeira. The new initiative seeks to attract digital nomads around the world to make use of free co-working spaces and subsidised accommodation.

Mauritius (4th) has made moves to attract remote workers by establishing the renewable premium travel visa, which allows eligible non-citizens to stay for a maximum period of a year.

Malta (6th) also recently launched a nomad residence permit which permits workers to stay in the country once they earn €2,700 (£2,230) a month. Applicants pay €300 each, plus the same for each dependant.

Croatia (11th) has expanded its short-term residency permits to welcome travellers from outside the European Union. Applicants must be employed remotely by a company that isn't registered in Croatia and doesn't perform work or provide services to employers there. Temporary stays are initially granted for up to a year and then close family members may join.

The Caribbean nations of Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Dominica have all announced remote work programs along with Estonia, Iceland, Mexico and Dubai in the UAE among others.

100 best countries for remote workers

The best countries for remote workers have been ranked by their overall scores calculated from the average of their six individual categories.

🛂 = Travel (accessibility; hotel, car & fuel prices)
💰 = Local Costs (apartment rental prices per month & per day; transport, food & restaurant prices)
🚑 = Health & Safety (political stability; air pollution; LGBT equality; road safety)
🌐 = Remote Work (remote work visas; co-working spaces; internet speeds)
👭 = Social Life (English proficiency; culture; bars & clubs per capita)
☀️ = Weather (precipitation, temperature)

Rank	Country	Total	🛂	💰	🚑	🌐	👭	☀️
1	Portugal	100	68	76	94	59	91	37
2	Spain	93	72	71	84	67	77	30
3	Romania	92	75	87	71	67	67	11
4	Mauritius	90	70	84	70	56	2	67
5	Japan	90	70	60	79	75	94	38
6	Malta	89	75	60	89	60	10	36
7	Costa Rica	86	72	76	79	49	47	73
8	Panama	85	84	77	60	54	30	78
9	Czech Rep	84	70	79	84	54	70	20
10	Germany	83	69	60	88	62	100	16
11	Croatia	82	67	74	74	57	76	32
12	Iceland	81	60	32	100	100	2	6
13	Sri Lanka	80	80	94	47	41	25	81
14	Taiwan	80	68	74	73	52	29	62
15	Albania	79	72	92	65	45	43	36
16	Thailand	79	80	88	34	59	23	76
17	Georgia	76	80	96	58	41	40	21
18	Estonia	75	67	75	81	53	58	7
19	Mexico	75	73	85	58	53	16	54
20	Indonesia	74	80	93	27	47	27	80
21	Australia	74	71	47	91	54	44	48
22	Malaysia	72	87	90	39	17	54	89
23	Greece	72	61	75	72	46	73	37
24	Brazil	71	84	91	66	17	37	62
25	Luxembourg	71	69	53	99	34	74	15
26	Seychelles	69	56	71	66	41	1	87
27	Singapore	69	59	53	69	36	93	88
28	Dominica	67	58	80	65	43	1	59
29	Philippines	67	77	91	41	12	65	87
30	Norway	67	58	34	98	72	79	21
31	Lithuania	66	74	82	81	23	60	10
32	Bulgaria	66	76	87	70	19	65	15
33	Netherlands	64	61	44	91	50	100	18
34	Poland	61	74	83	63	26	73	10
35	Hungary	61	71	83	70	19	73	16
36	Curaçao	60	71	69	54	45	2	56
37	Belgium	59	66	56	83	37	80	19
38	Denmark	59	62	42	93	51	89	11
39	Colombia	58	85	90	53	10	27	52
40	Latvia	57	74	79	70	21	56	7
41	UAE	57	76	56	40	48	26	47
42	Serbia	56	72	88	61	9	71	19
43	France	56	65	60	78	32	80	26
44	Argentina	56	72	82	73	6	65	30
45	Chile	55	76	80	62	26	46	9
46	Moldova	55	67	95	56	18	9	14
47	Honduras	55	74	88	50	7	35	75
48	El Salvador	55	77	87	56	5	30	68
49	Cape Verde	55	66	78	34	46	2	38
50	Barbados	55	55	55	40	66	2	67
51	Aruba	55	65	55	53	49	3	56
52	Sweden	54	62	47	98	36	83	10
53	Austria	54	65	51	88	26	85	20
54	Jamaica	53	63	74	53	27	2	66
55	Ecuador	53	84	89	59	8	11	45
56	Montenegro	52	69	85	61	5	6	43
57	New Zealand	52	68	54	100	17	12	30
58	USA	52	100	46	72	22	34	36
59	South Africa	52	75	75	59	11	72	38
60	North Macedonia	51	78	93	50	8	4	19
61	South Korea	50	68	70	60	22	68	35
62	Peru	50	78	93	54	8	32	22
63	Canada	50	72	52	98	19	32	17
64	Nepal	50	71	100	36	7	34	48
65	Turkey	49	81	94	36	10	37	35
66	Cyprus	49	72	74	74	6	6	33
67	Réunion	49	74	65	72	29	2	54
68	Vietnam	49	52	91	43	12	41	74
69	The Bahamas	49	56	61	42	47	1	64
70	Italy	49	63	64	73	17	80	29
71	Bolivia	48	81	94	46	7	39	19
72	UK	48	67	52	82	27	63	17
73	India	47	71	97	19	9	36	70
74	Finland	46	58	50	93	28	82	1
75	Kazakhstan	45	81	96	54	13	9	6
76	Guatemala	45	82	84	47	4	29	47
77	Dominican Rep	43	68	84	41	5	36	67
78	Kenya	42	69	89	22	9	62	49
79	Tanzania	42	73	89	25	5	18	57
80	Jordan	42	72	88	40	18	21	26
81	Armenia	41	80	92	40	10	34	8
82	Tunisia	41	84	95	21	2	37	33
83	China	40	77	82	29	8	50	46
84	Puerto Rico	40	68	64	62	16	6	66
85	Ireland	39	66	48	89	17	13	24
86	Switzerland	39	60	14	99	45	71	20
87	Kuwait	39	87	75	28	15	23	49
88	Bangladesh	37	69	88	11	3	28	100
89	Anguilla	36	1	48	48	57	1	64
90	Algeria	34	91	94	10	3	20	32
91	Morocco	32	77	91	25	3	23	31
92	Pakistan	32	73	100	2	2	30	46
93	Nigeria	31	74	84	4	3	47	69
94	Uzbekistan	31	59	94	38	6	18	21
95	Oman	30	73	80	36	6	4	48
96	Hong Kong	29	44	45	50	27	23	75
97	Belize	28	63	70	40	6	1	55
98	Senegal	28	69	82	22	3	2	47
99	Egypt	28	83	95	2	2	16	36
100	Israel	26	56	53	58	19	11	36
101	Qatar	26	83	58	29	13	23	46
102	Cayman Islands	24	48	23	49	54	1	65
103	Saudi Arabia	23	80	81	1	15	2	47
104	Zimbabwe	22	59	87	24	7	2	46

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