The Best Countries for Remote Working

Denmark is the best country in the world for remote workers, according to The Global Remote Work Index 2023 by NordLayer, a business cybersecurity provider. Despite its high cost of living and expensive internet, the small northern European country received strong marks for excelling in areas such as social inclusiveness, internet quality, social safety, e-government, and healthcare.

The Netherlands and Germany also scored highly, ranking in second and third place, respectively. Germany is praised particularly for its legal measures surrounding cyber safety, coming out on top worldwide for the indicator.

As the following chart shows, European countries have performed well this year in the GRWI ranking, taking all top ten places. Canada is the first non-European nation to buck the trend, coming in at 14th place, followed by the United States in 16th.

NordLayer notes that the top-ranked countries tend to be more expensive to live in, with Portugal standing out for offering the “best value-for-money” with its high position on the list (rank 6) and simultaneously low cost of living (rank 56). This has caused problems for people in the country, as a surge in expats have pushed up prices locally, particularly in terms of accommodation.

Several countries in Asia stand out for leading the way in terms of the digital and physical infrastructure category: Singapore, South Korea and the UAE. Meanwhile, Japan (10th) and South Korea (12th) also perform well for social safety.

Analysts used data from the first half of the year to rank 108 countries based on their level of cyber safety, economic safety, digital & physical infrastructure and social safety.