Another week, another ranking where the Netherlands achieves a top 10 spot. This time, the country was named the seventh-best in the world for remote working in 2021!

Circle Loop’s Digital Nomad Index

The work environment has changed drastically over the past 12 months, and while many hope that by the end of this year coronavirus restrictions will be a thing of the past, it is likely that the pandemic has changed the global working environment for good. This means that people around the world are adjusting the way they live - choosing to live outside of the big cities, now that they no longer have to commute into work every day, or even looking abroad for their new home. 

UK-based Circle Loop, therefore, decided to look into which countries offer the best environment for remote working, taking into account a number of factors to determine which nations would end up on top:

• Average broadband speed
• Average mobile internet speed
• Average broadband cost (monthly)
• Average monthly rent (for a one-bedroom apartment)
• Whether the country allows for a working holiday visa
• The country’s world happiness index rating
• Percentage of the population with a migration background
• The number of annual searches for remote jobs in each country

Each country was then ranked according to the above factors and received a normalised score out of 100 before calculating an average score across all eight factors.

The Netherlands is great for remote working - but it's expensive!

The research found that, when looking at countries with remote work opportunities, Canada and the UK proved the most popular, while Singapore and the UAE are the places to go if you’re looking for cheap and reliable internet connections. 

But how did the Netherlands do? The country achieved an overall score of 60,27, and it did well in a handful of categories, including average mobile internet speed (88.13 Mbps) and happiness (7,45 out of 10). Aspects that let the country down in the overall score were the average rent and broadband costs (1.213 euros and 39,46 euros respectively).

Top 10 countries for remote work

According to the ranking, the best countries in the world for remote working are: 

1. Canada - 74,35 out of 100
2. The United Kingdom - 63,43
3. Romania - 62,28
4. Sweden - 61,54
5. Denmark - 61,49
6. France - 60,8
7. The Netherlands - 60,27
8. Australia - 60,16
9. Switzerland - 60,15
10. Germany - 60

The countries that nabbed the bottom spots in the ranking were Nigeria (26,32) and Myanmar (29,16). For more information about the ranking, visit Circle Loop’s website.