Every country's economy took a hit in the past two years due to the pandemic. Constant restrictions can have an effect even on the strongest economies, let alone the small ones, that have been struggling for years, living on loans and foreign aids. We're not out of the woods yet as there are still travel restrictions in place, but something needs to be done to attract capital and try to rebuild what needs to be rebuilt.
The tourism sector is on the ground, travel has been reduced to minimum, that has caused many businesses to put a big lock on their door.
As you may know, I'm monitoring how nomading is treated worldwide and which countries are the peoneers in attracting digital and crypto nomads. There are already visas available for digital nomads in several countries, which is a step ahead, towards the goal we want to achieve. However, a visa alone is not enough to attract the masses.
Financially, attracting usual tourists as well as remote workers is the best you can do as a country. However, in order to achieve that goal, there are certain standards to meet.
Choosing the best country to work from remotely is a difficult task, you need to consider a lot of factors. kayak.com has a list of 111 countries you can choose from. These countries are listed based on their ranking score.
Using 22 different factors, we compared 111 countries according to their remote working conditions and opportunities to really explore outside of your usual 9 - 5 routine. We then ranked these destinations based on six categories, such as how lively the social scene is or local costs of living, to help you weigh your options. Using the guide below, find out which countries would best meet your work and life needs so that you can make this daydream a reality. source
Looking at the list, you may think you'd find the most powerful countries in the top 10. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you won't.
There are 5 European countries in the top 10, which comes as a surprise. Portugal is leading with a maximum score of 100 out of 100, which is more than amazing as most of the times there's no maximum score. Portugal is a famous tourist destination in Europe, appreciated not only for its climate and food but for its beaches as well. Spain as well, so it's not surprising this lovely Mediterranean country comes second.
The biggest surprise is Romania for me. Usually my country is first on certain lists for all the wrong reasons, but looks like it's not in this case.
If you click the arrow next to each category, you can see what details have been taken into count to obtain that score. For example for "Health & Safety", political safety and absence of violence, air pollution, LGBT equality and legal rights, car accidents count the most. The most interesting and most important among all is the remote work column, which means interner speed (download & upload speed), remote work visas and co-working spaces.
In this selection I tried to pick a few countries I know would want to rank higher and those that have a large user group on our platform. None of these countries are offering remote work visas at the moment. The US is one place higher than South Africa and both have the same score. Can you believe it? Long term and short term appartment rental is very high in the US, political stability is not good either.
Canada, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland are all at the lower end of the list. I'm not sure if implementing the remote work visa is just a matter or time or they don't want it at all. Nigeria and Pakistan are also at the bottom of the list, which on the other hand is not surprising at all.
This is an interesting list that can give you a clue about how things stand right now. In a year or two, with migration already happening, life is going to change in these countries. The rental market has a chance to regain some strength, domestic traveling is also going to grow as nomads are going to try to explore as many places as they can.
There are certain criterias that can't be improved, like weather. Mother nature is independent of political parties or governments, she has her own agenda. But there are things that must change and the first thing is making the remote work visa available. Next is making internet accessible for low budget travelers and cover the whole country. The latter is a must these days as we live in a digital era, there's no life without internet.
Change is never easy, it's a process that takes time, but it has to start somewhere. These nomad workers won't change the world in a year or two as the amount of money they may bring in the country may equal to a drop in the ocean, but it is something and with time it can become more and more.
Crypto adoption paired with what it has been presented above will be the winner formula, no doubt about that. Portugal is already in a winning position as it is leading the "Remote Work Ranking" list and it's fifth on the crypto friendly countries list. Germany is in a good position as well as it's in the top ten on both lists.
