The 20 best democratic countries for Americans to move to after the pandemic, where the weather is good and living is affordable

If you're looking to leave the United States — for whatever reason — this list could help you find a welcoming country that isn't too expensive to live in and has good weather.
Business Insider ranked the best countries for Americans to move to — once travel from the US to other countries is permitted and the coronavirus is under control.
To identify the best places, we looked at five metrics we think are important to consider when looking for the next best country after the pandemic.
Australia and Uruguay made the top of our list.
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If you're looking to move out of the United States once the pandemic travel bans are lifted, you might want to consider one of the following countries that we've rounded up.

Among other things, they have good weather, are welcoming to newcomers, and aren't too expensive to live in.

The US has one of the highest numbers of cumulative coronavirus cases per capita, has had a major spike in unemployment, and is already feeling the negative economic impact from the pandemic.

For our list, we looked at five metrics for democratic countries, including average temperatures, living costs, how welcoming a country is to migrants, the country's score on the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, and declining daily coronavirus cases.

We then rescaled each metric to a five-point scale so that we could determine a total score across metrics and find our best countries. You can read more about our methods and data sets used here.

Based on the five metrics, Australia ranked at the top of the list because it's close to the ideal temperature, has a low average number of new coronavirus cases per capita, and has a higher welcoming-of-migrants score than other countries on our list.

Read on to see the 20 best countries to move to once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.

20. Sweden

Sweden has a Migrant Acceptance Index score of 7.92, making it part of the top 10 of the 140 countries Gallup surveyed. This contributed to its high overall score in our ranking.

The average annual temperature in 2016 was lower than that of many of the other 20 best countries on our list at 37.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you're thinking about moving to Sweden, make sure you check out the qualifications for non-EU citizens. The permanent-residence requirements for work were recently updated, so it's important to check which visa or permit is best for your situation. You might be granted long-term residence if you've lived in Sweden continuously for five years, the Swedish Migration Agency says.

19. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has a democracy score of 8.52 and has a cost of living 5.9% lower than the US' cost of living, contributing to its high ranking on our list. According to US News & World Report's latest best-countries list, the UK is also good for entrepreneurship and cultural influence.

The average annual temperature in 2016, however, was one of the lower temperatures out of the 20 best countries on our list at 48.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Different visas are necessary to visit or stay in the UK. If you want to see if you're eligible for an "Indefinite Leave to Remain" visa, you can take a quick survey on the UK government's website.

If you hold a retirement visa, you can apply after living in the UK under this visa for at least five years, along with other requirements. A general tier-1 work visa, however, will not be eligible for settlement as eligibility closed in April 2018.

18. Malta

Dado Daniela/Getty Images

The country's closeness to the ideal temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit and low number of average new coronavirus cases per capita in mid-July contributed to its high score. But Malta scored low on Gallup's' Migrant Acceptance Index at 4.95, below the global average score of 5.34.

Americans can visit Malta for 90 days without a visa, but will need to look for proper permits for work if they want to stay longer. People outside the European Union can apply for permanent residence according to Malta's government website but not ordinary residence because it is only available for EU citizens. There is also the Malta Global Residency Programme where you will need to buy or rent property, along with other necessary requirements.

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