10
votes
The cheapest countries to live in Europe
Link information
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- Title
- Which European Countries Are Most Affordable For Expats? | Relocate.me
- Authors
- Andrew Stetsenko 🇺🇦
- Published
- Mar 21 2024
- Word count
- 1622 words
I guess talking about expats is technically correct? But the way these countries are framed it seems to me that digital nomad is more appropriate here. As it is clear that these are cheap countries *
if your income comes from outside that country. For example from remote work where it is implied that it comes with a salary that is much higher than that of folks living in that country.
Which also comes with social implications about competing with locals for housing with am unfair advantage.
Hmm, wouldn't a digital nomad use short-term rentals instead of "normal renting" though? Because, if they are conducting business activity in the country for more than 6 months, they'll have to be taxed there (which may or may not result in double taxation, depending on the circumstances), but AFAIK normal renting generally has a minimum contract length of 1 year. Short-term rentals are also unethical for similar reasons, of course, but that's a different thing
Depending on the country, there's whole pre-furnished gated communities that rent for X month terms, where X is how long you can be in the country until you have to take a quick trip somewhere else to reset the timer. You can also just pay in advance and they'll hold it for you while you're temporarily out of the country. That said, those aren't really in competition with the local housing market.
Digital nomads generally aren't too concerned with immigration laws. It's basically get a tourist visa, rent a serviced apartment/guesthouse room, and work from your laptop.
True, I am not sure if digital nomad also is the right term as it seems like the article implies living in those countries for a longer period.
The reason I didn't think expat was quite right is because expats, at least in my mind, work for a company located in the county. Meaning their income is also closer to that of other people in the county giving them less of an advantage.
I thought the same too — "expat" (as much as I dislike the term) doesn't seem to be that fitting here, especially considering that the scoring here isn't particularly adjusted by other factors, e.g. median salaries vs monthly costs.
Plus, IMO 4 of the 5 countries listed don't usually offer great opportunities for expats, at least compared to more "tech hub"-y affordable countries like Czechia, Poland, and Denmark.
But then again, at least in my home country, I rarely hear about expats moving to the above countries instead of Belgium, the Netherlands, or Germany, as expensive as those countries can be.