Thailand best destination for retirees in Asia
International Living has released its annual global pension index for 2022. Panama has taken the number one spot on the annual Global Retirement Index for 2022 as the world's safest, most affordable and most welcoming country for retirees, with an average score of 86,1 and Thailand also ranks particularly well.
Internationalliving.com has ranked Thailand as the top destination in Asia and the 11th best in the world in its 2022 global retirement index.
Costa Rica is in second place for a carefree retirement, Mexico is in third place, followed by Portugal, Ecuador, Colombia, France, Malta, Spain and Uruguay.
According to International Living, Thailand continues to be popular among retirees from all over the world because the country not only offers beaches and other beautiful natural attractions, but also affordable accommodations and friendly locals. Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Hua Hin are the top 3 Thai cities among retirees. Both foreigners with a small and a large budget can live there and even from 1.000 US dollars or about 33.000 baht per month.
Thailand is also known for its affordable and quality health care, one of the main things seniors look for after retirement. Applying for and obtaining a long-stay visa is also relatively easy and fast.
The list's compilers state that the countries are ranked based on scores given in 10 categories, including cost of living, housing, visa and residence, development, healthcare, climate, special benefits, and governance.
International Living is a print and online magazine that provides comprehensive information on the world's best places to live, retire, travel and invest.
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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It is indeed good to live in Thailand for the retired.
I am missing a sentence in your article.
For your annual visa, which you must apply for every year, you must have 800.000 Baht in your bank and every 90 days you must register at Imm. report. Greetings from Amazing Thailand.
I extended my NON O visa yesterday, this time I was asked for a bank book, I do not have it and it is not necessary because I have an income that more than meets the THB 65.000 p / month obligation, so I have the visa as proof letter of support from the Dutch embassy.
In Thailand you can extend your visa in Thailand, something that is impossible in Australia, for example, here you first have to leave the country and outside Australia you can apply for it again, an expensive affair (return ticket) and hope that it will be approved by the Imm. from Australia, I have bad experience with that.
So as far as I am concerned Thailand is a lot easier and cheaper than many other countries, the only thing you have to do extra is the 90 day check, but that can also be done via the internet and is easy to do, takes little time, time you because the pensioners don't have a job (anymore) in other words plenty of time, so I think complaining about the visa policy is complaining about nothing.
Make sure you have everything you need with you when you come to Imm. goes for an extension and within 2 hours you are outside (Chiang Mai) again and you can do what you wish to do again.
You can make it as difficult or easy as you want.
All these years that I have been here now everything has just gone smoothly and correctly, I have not had any complaints about the officials at Imm so far. in Chiang Mai, you will be greeted kindly and helped if you can hand over the correct papers, many have the wrong or too little information and start complaining about the “bad” treatment, WRONG, the problem starts with the wrong information by the applicant.
I have my doubts about the organization and the research. A pensionado is really someone who settles permanently in Thailand. In order to qualify for a one-year visa, this person must have at least 800.00 THB (€ 1.750 net income per month). To live on USD 1000 you have to stay in the countryside. Your health insurance will have to pay for that. If you are not insured, you will not get further than the front door of the fantastic health facilities or you will have to pay a lot. Moreover, Thailand is no longer waiting for pesionados who only spend 1000 USD per month. Perhaps the organization refers to hibernators.
Dear Ruud,
I feel like a real pensionado, but I still change Thailand every 6 months for the European summer.
I've been doing that for almost 17 years and I like it. Moreover, I just pay IB in Ned and take out my health insurance there. In addition, I have 3 travel insurance policies for the Thai Corona requirements. So divide my expenses between Thailand and Ned.
And no one can call me a pensionado profiteer.
Welcome to Thailand and the Netherlands
That's how I do it too, 6 months Thailand and 6 months Belgium best of 2 worlds and you stay in order with your social security and so you don't have to take out expensive expat insurance. Don't have to park 800.000 Bht on a Thai account as my pension meets the requirements for a retirment visa. Hope to be able to do this for many years to come.
You cannot stay in Thailand for $1000 a month in income. The admission requirements are many times higher, as is known. 65,000.00 Thai baht per month (per year 800.000 Thai baht in a Thai bank account) for many or for the new OA visa cases already almost 2800 euros net per month or a sloppy 32.000 euros in a Thai bank account.
Jacques, and also John Chiang Rai, it's income and/or assets if you want to get an extension. Someone who lives on wealth and has a small income, or a small income taxed in Thailand, can live well here. Read the visa file, it's all there.
Dear Erik, There is no mention of a required income or required capital in the above article.
As soon as one would mention this required income or capital, it would become clear that only an amount of 1000 USD (approx. 870) which is now being written about, will not work.
People are only talking about the 1000 USD (approx. 870 Euro) that a pensioner in Thailand can live on.
Even if you could live completely freely in your husband's house, after a good health insurance and minimal personal wishes, it would be peanuts at most to provide this social security that every sane husband quietly counts on.
Or you have such beautiful eyes That she will see this to the end of your life.555
Dear Ruud,
Another way to stay in Thailand is with a Thai Marriage Visa.
If you have 400.000 baht in a Thai bank, there is no income requirement.
And people forget that not everyone is married? And if one is married also has more expenses.
Great news for the Boomers and it looks like there's not much to complain about in general for that group sitting here. Realize the happiness that people have and a large part of the population here can only see as a dream.
You do forget the necessary foreigners who are under water due to all kinds of measures that take place here. Most of them manage to survive, but for how long and some consider it an Eldorado. Good to read that you are doing well financially. I estimate that you belong to the latter group and you have been awarded it. But there are also people who rightly have complaints and the right to complain and certainly don't like doing this. Let people be in their value and above all continue to enjoy where possible. Incidentally, the amounts of 1000 dollars, which are mentioned in it, do not make sense. Still wondering how research is done.
Making a living is not only reserved for the Thai. Thailand is not a nice country without money, but that was already known before mass tourism started.
If a Thai family of 3 people can live on a family income of 30.000 baht per month, then an AOW pension should be enough for 1 person, right? If not, creativity is required to get it done anyway.
Don't you forget Johnny BG health insurance?
The Thai can at least use the '30 baht' health care.
Non-Thai have to pay 400-500 Euro per month for health insurance (with the exclusion of all existing conditions).
But indeed, Thailand is the paradise of and for the (very) rich Thai and the foreigner wearing pink glasses and blinders who spend (very) a lot of money there.
Personally, I find 1000 USD to live on, as described above in the article, a very unrealistic given.
At 1000USD it will be much more of a survival than an actual life if you assume the minimum living requirements.
Before the mathematicians start calculating how terribly cheap Thailand is, I would just like to point out an expensive but actually necessary health insurance.
What remains then, if you don't have a rich fold, will be at most survival for most retirees.
I won't calculate it for you, also because I don't keep track of my expenses, only the monthly amount in my bank account, but I spend considerably less than $ 1.000 per month and I don't think I'm missing out on anything, because I would just spend more.
Incidentally, with $ 1.000 they possibly mean $ 1.000 per person, the text is not clear about that.
But if you have to support a wife - or husband - and children, it probably won't work.
With the two of us we have enough with 1000 euros per month. But we don't make 'crazy' expenses.
Dear Johan, I think at most you are talking about a cheap holiday time in Thailand.
If you are going to live permanently in Thailand as a pensioner, you will have to deal with completely different costs.
The Dutch health care that was still in good condition for you in the Netherlands and during your holiday for both of you will then disappear completely.
So just a good health insurance for both of you would already put a huge hole in your budget.
To give an opinion on this one must, like me, have lived for several years in neighboring countries.
Overall I think Thailand is not a paradise - it only exists in your heart - but it is the best country to live as a retiree.
When I read all that here regarding the 1000 USD/m I wonder how someone would do in their home country with this? He must not live in paradise there either.
Yes, we sit comfortably in a plush chair and comment on whoever can prove less than the required 65.000 baht per month. In most countries the average income is less than USD 1000, for example in Spain half of the working population works for less; look if they can manage well in their own country why shouldn't they be able to do that in Thailand. Tens of millions of Thais live on a few thousand baht a month, buy their food, clothing, home necessities on the cheap markets and, for example, in the so-called 20-baht shops. And so many from abroad who have a relatively low income (compared to the Dutch or Belgian) will still feel perfectly at home in Thailand.
Dear Ger Korat, You have regarding the fact that many Thai have to live on a few thousand Baht p/m.
Only I have yet to see the first farang pensionado who calls such a presence a real life in that way.
Most Thais living on a minimum income live in a Thai family where one supports the other.
Such a family, as far as a farang lives with them, at least expects that this farang will contribute quite a bit.
If then from this 1000 USD (approx. 870 Euro) instead of a Thai 30 Baht arrangement, a good health insurance and a few personal wishes have to be paid for a farang, this friendly cohabitation will soon go wrong.
The Dutchman or Belgian, who wants to live on only USD 1000 in Thailand, is at least a life artist, who usually has no health insurance, and has to hope every day that he will not become seriously ill.
I would like to contradict this if I may.
I pay a monthly fee of just over 8000THB for my health insurance.
I own my own home (so no house rent).
I have a simple car, my wife a moped (the car is rarely used).
We buy our food at the local Thai (market) as much as possible.
We don't participate in crazy spending.
We do NOT support anyone.
Our monthly budget is usually around 1000 euros. This means that I can save well because I enjoy a nice pension.
If you do a little bit of budget control, you can live perfectly here with 1000 euros. Occasionally more but mostly even less.
So you see, never bill someone else because then you will be disappointed.
Dear Johan, Sorry, but you immediately assume capital in your calculation, capital in the form of your own home.
In principle, your own home is nothing more than a monthly income that you simply have to count as income if you do not pay rent.
Furthermore, I do not want to talk about your so-called health insurance of 8000 Baht, because I do not know how old you are at first, nor do I know exactly what this insurance pays at all if it becomes really serious.
Moreover, you write that your monthly budget is about 1000 Euro, which you spend on a Thai market without crazy expenses, while the article is not about Euro, but about Dollar.
So before you start charging someone else something, you must stick to the described currency and the correct income.
A correct income, which of course gets a completely different picture due to owning your own home.
You are always right with such reasoning!
What about the 400000THB (800000THB) that you must have to stay here? If you take all this into account, you will never have enough with your 1000 euros / month and this discussion is completely unnecessary.
Dear Johan, The 400.000 or 800.000 Baht you mention is dead capital that you must have in a bank to be able to stay in Thailand at all.
Unlike the monthly recurring living costs, this capital has nothing to do with the monthly living costs.
According to your calculation method, my car costs, if you forget the purchase, leasing, maintenance costs or rental costs, just like your living costs, would also not exceed 20 Euro p / m. (12 liters of petrol)
In the monthly living costs it is not exaggerated that you at least include the saved rent (if owned) or the rent to be paid.
With your way of calculating, as long as it is at most about the minimum living costs at Aldi and Lidl, you can also live well in Europe.
Dear John,
I don't quite understand your reasoning, but I'm afraid that's just me.
If that 400.000 or 800.000 Baht is dead capital, then owning a home is just as much and then of course you have the additional advantage of not having to pay house rent.
But OK, if you think you're right, then so be it.
Kind regards,
Henry.
Dear Henri, The 400.000 or 800.000 Baht is dead capital that you, if you want to stay in Thailand, are not allowed to touch.
It is, without perhaps getting a minimum interest on it, just a deposit to ensure your right to stay.
With your own house/home, after deductions/maintenance etc., you have the advantage every month that you have no further direct living costs.
This living benefit, which you no longer have to pay in rent, must be added to this 1000 USD living costs to get a fair picture of your actual living costs.
Saved rent, say 250 to 300 Euro and sometimes more, then actually becomes 1250, 1300 or more USD, which comes back every month.
I don't want to be cocky, but if you want to give a fair picture, this calculation is simply part of your monthly recurring living expenses.
What's so hard about that?
if you apply the same reasoning for the rent, your budget of 1000 dollars in Belgium is just enough to pay your rent, with a bit of luck you will still have 100 dollars to live on, that will not work, even if you go to the lidl and then then we have not yet discussed the costs for gas, electricity and internet, then your 1000 dollars have long been spent, then it will even be 1000 euros, I fear. And then you should not go to a restaurant like I do here every day. So for I made the choice quickly.
I'll be very honest, I've been living here for almost 5 years now (retired). I built a simple house so I don't have to pay rent. I am married.
We like to go out for a good meal, have a car and occasionally go on a domestic holiday in a nice hotel. In short: we have absolutely NOTHING short. We have more than enough for all this with 40000 THB/month!
What I absolutely do not do is spend my money daily in the pub, in the company of many other farang. This alone probably costs a bomb.
I do not believe it. Some months it will work but other months not at all. The months you have to pay your insurance for the car and what will be traveling around certainly not. Sometimes a house breaks down. Water pump, for example, or air conditioner. Even costs on the car tires battery or some medicines or necessary household products.
Many people simply cannot count. In order not to be short of anything while one can still speak of an austere lifestyle, you are more likely to have a minimum of 60.000 Bht per month.
I don't live it up, don't have rose colored glasses (a dead ordinary vario focus) or blinkers (these are only for a horse).
I live here with my partner and 2 children (18 years old and 7 years old).
We live in a 2 storey house, 3 bed, 3 bath large living room and kitchen, it is fully furnished with new modern furniture and has a (little) garden.
It is located in a Moo Baan and has a communal swimming pool.
I pay THB 14.000 in rent, and I pay THB 2800 per month in W(ater) E(electricity) I(nternet).
Bottled water per week THB 100 and 2 gas bottles per year THB 600.
Every week we pick up groceries for THB 2500 at supermarkets such as Rimping, Big C and Lotus.
Every day my partner goes to the market for fresh vegetables, we do not buy meat here, but we do eat it every day, a Kebab (THB 2) for me twice a week and a sweet treat for the children every day, this is in total per week about THB 50.
My partner likes a glass of whiskey from time to time and I sometimes like a cold beer (Xtreme) and we also drink a glass of wine.
This is not a daily drinking party, but we still spend an average of THB 700 on alcoholic drinks per week (a bottle of whiskey is THB 500 and lasts longer than 1 week).
We have 1 car and divide the expenses by 2, school fees for the children ditto.
Thanks to Corona, due to the restrictions imposed, there has been little to do in the past 1 1/2 years, okay we are making a trip to Pai (seeing friends) or going out if possible, but again it is limited.
Until now I have remained free of any discomfort and do what I like to do and do not impose any restrictions on myself because of my age (71 years old), I am no longer a young dog, but I don't mope behind the geraniums either.
Calculated in Euros, the four of me can get by on €1000 and also buy clothes for everyone from this, but I don't go to the pub, restaurants little or not at all because I don't like these at all, for the children it will be a visit to Pizza Hut or whatever they like, but again this doesn't happen often as this would be far beyond my €1000 amount.
It is definitely not paradise here, a paradise is a place that you create yourself anywhere in the world according to the possibilities that are available to you.
When I hear my complaining friends in the Netherlands, everything has become much more expensive, we are not allowed anything, then I can only say that despite the rising prices in Thailand, it is still a good place to be.
You have complainers everywhere, just like people who are always short of money.
I live here as "God in France" (where I also lived for 10 years, but where it is not paradise either) and I feel happy, both with my partner and the children, but I also have enough to complain, but this is mainly about the policy pursued by the government here.
So no pink glasses or blinders, but my reality about life in Thailand.
Everyone lives in their own way and tries to be happy with it, the 1 has enough € 1000 per month while another needs this per week, so comment and say what is or is not possible as comparing apples with oranges.
That may be true in your case, but you are also talking about 1000 Euro (130 Euro more) and not about 1000 Dollar (130 Euro less) as described in the article.
Moreover, in your whole calculation I miss a good health insurance for you, which should normally be a necessity.
I also miss maintenance and depreciation costs of home and car with you, so I suspect that the calculation looks a lot like a wet finger work.
What do you do at the age of 71 if you don't have good health insurance, and realistically something is going to happen, given your advanced age?
Sorry, I'm only talking about the minimum cost of living, which if you calculate EVERYTHING correctly would be a lot higher.
Strange, that mindset that you can't live here with 1000 dollars. I think you can certainly do that and you will not live in great luxury, but certainly not in poverty either. This has nothing to do with the income requirement. Have you saved enough and put something aside, eg 10.000 euros, are the 1000 euros per month enough to meet the requirement. Then you come to an annual income of 839000 Baht.
Concerning monthly living costs is a very relative matter. First of all: what is good living? What is a good life for one, is not at all for the other. I was once allowed to read here on TB: we live 'very spacious', with 4 people, for 2.5EU/d…. that was the record.
I can only say, if you, own house or not, have to make do with 1000$/m {33.000THB/m}, you will have to be very careful with the money and will not drive a car, not regularly drive in a 'good restaurant' will have to dine and not make many domestic trips in a 'good hotel'.
I've lived here for years, don't go to a pub much, once a week on Sunday, don't do crazy things, know all too well what I'm talking about. But yes, it is known: do not mention prices here because then what I call “the American (finished) bidding” will start.
After all, everyone lives the way they want and can live.
Dear Lung Addie,
Here at TB we have regularly experienced that when money is discussed, there are quite a few extremes. To what extent the answers are honest, I leave that in the middle.
The unfortunate thing is that in the long run people no longer know what they can and may believe. I'm afraid there are some members who see the blog as a pleasant pastime and post imaginative comments here.
I've learned to take all this with a grain of salt to regret those who do take it seriously.
$1000 is possible, but it's not a luxury
I myself have my own house here, so I don't pay house rent and I come to an average of 1500 bht per day, so 45.000 bht per month for the 2 of us (me and my wife) is more than enough. I like to go to a restaurant, at least once a day, often twice, but I am a moderate drinker. Add another 1bht per month
in addition to electricity, water and internet which is more than calculated and then I am at 50.000 bht per month, do not have a car but 2 motorcycles.
If I eat out twice a month in Belgium, I've already lost more than 2bht and the gas and electricity prices are skyrocketing in Europe. I know why I'm here 🙂
That's right Herman, I realize all too well that Thailand is dirt cheap compared to Belgium. I built here for barely 1.5 million THB, you can only dream of that in Belgium.
The cost of living is a lot less than in your home country. We live well here and can confirm that a good 1000 euros per month will get you a long way. But not to offend others, that's my personal situation.