How we calculate

As of 3 November 2026, 401 automated tests pass, covering each country’s reference values, the limits of the calculation and the worked examples published by the tax authority where they exist (Malaysia, the 12.75 lakh threshold in India). Those reference values come from the official tax tables and our country engines. We have not compared each country with its authority’s own calculator, so no average gap is claimed here: if you find one, write to us.

The sums describe one single resident employee with no children, for a full year. Assumptions specific to a country, such as the city used for local taxes, are written on its page, along with what is left out.

National income tax, local income taxes where they exist, and social contributions paid by the employee. Employer contributions are not counted: the starting figure is the gross pay on a payslip.

Amounts are converted at the reference rate of 2 November 2026 (European Central Bank through Frankfurter; AED, QAR and SAR at their fixed dollar peg). The “What it buys” view scales net pay by the 2025 price level from the World Bank, the ratio of the private consumption purchasing power factor to the official exchange rate. It is a national average: a big city can cost much more.

Each measure comes from a public source: homicides (UNODC through the World Bank), political stability and rule of law (World Bank governance indicators), PISA 2022 results (OECD), life expectancy and fine particles (World Bank), housing and consumption price levels (International Comparison Program 2021). The score out of 100 is the average of the country’s ranks among those covered, with no hidden weights. When you tick a concern in the plan, a country in the bottom third on it leaves the list. Missing figures stay out of the average. Luxembourg and Monaco have no published PISA 2022 score, and the OECD flags nine countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada) for missing a sampling standard. The school fee is the one published by one reference international school, often before extra charges.

The Global Peace Index 2026 (Institute for Economics & Peace, June 2026) and the World Happiness Report 2026 are shown as published, read at their source files on 3 November 2026, with no map reproduced. GDP per capita and the price level come from the World Bank API, read the same day; rows whose price level is out of line with GDP from the same source, or older than 2024, are dropped and named on the page. The average salary comes from the OECD, Eurostat, SingStat, the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department and ILOSTAT. Each salary then runs through the country’s tax engine: the net shown is our calculation, not theirs. Without a readable official figure, a country has no row.

The HDI comes from the UNDP 2025 report (2023 data), life expectancy from the World Bank, PISA 2022 scores from the OECD, and cost of living by category from the 2021 cycle of the World Bank International Comparison Program. The country pages add national statistical offices where their official page could be read; otherwise the page says so. Nomad visas and the FBAR come from government sites only. The India and Malaysia pages rest on the Gazette of India, the Malaysian tax authority and their ministries; these two engines stay outside the 35-country comparison.

Services received in return (health, pension, schools) carry no value here. Regimes for new residents are not applied: they depend on your history and are listed on each country page. In every case this is an estimate, not advice on your situation.