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Here is why Australia is a great country for Americans to move to after the pandemic
Australia is the best country for Americans to move to after coronavirus based on five metrics. Prasit photo/Getty Images We recently ranked the top countries for Americans to live in post-coronavirus. Based on our five metrics, we found Australia was the best country to move to.Here’s a closer look at how Australia scored on the different…

Prasit photo/Getty Images
- We recently ranked the top countries for Americans to live in post-coronavirus.
- Based on our five metrics, we found Australia was the best country to move to.
- Here’s a closer look at how Australia scored on the different metrics we used.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
From the sunny weather to the iconic Sydney Opera House and plenty of beaches to visit, Australia is the best place for Americans to move to next.
Business Insider recently ranked the best democratic countries to move to after the pandemic based on five metrics, including weather and how expensive it can be to live there. You can read more about our method and data sources here. Based on our metrics, we found Australia to be the best place for Americans to move to next.
The country score ranked number one out of the 76 countries listed as democratic by the Economist Intelligence Unit partly due to its ideal average annual temperature and overall friendliness to immigrants based on a Gallup survey.
Additionally, the country has ranked near the top of other country rankings including the US News & World Report’s annual country ranking, where it took the fifth highest spot. Three Australian cities also made the top 10 most livable cities from the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index in 2019. It also took the sixth spot in the United Nations’ Human Development Index of 2019.
Australia was also one of the countries that had a successful plan to keep the coronavirus under control early on during the outbreak as seen in its decline throughout April until June per daily data reports from John Hopkins University. However, the country just saw its deadliest day yet per reporting from Reuters. This comes after Melbourne, the second-largest city in the country, has had an increase in coronavirus cases. Melbourne is now under strict lockdown to help stop the spread.
Read on to learn more about why Australia took the top spot on our list and on which metrics it fell short.
Australia’s average annual temperature
Loren Elliott/Reuters
Australia is great for people who want ideal warm temperatures for the majority of the year. In 2016, the year used in our country comparison, Australia had an average annual temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit. The lowest average monthly temperature in 2016 was around 59 degrees in July and the highest was 83 degrees in January. Averaging the annual data from monthly estimates between 1901 and 2016, the country had an annual average of 70.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which is even closer to the ideal temperature of 70 degrees used to develop our ranking.
Australia boasts plenty of beaches where you can enjoy the nice weather, such as Bondi Beach in Sydney and Bells Beach in Victoria.
Australian’s acceptance of immigrants
TkKurikawa/Getty Images
The country is also known for welcoming others.
A 2016 Gallup poll asked country residents how they would feel if an immigrant lived in the country, was their neighbor, or married into their family. Gallup scored respondents’ answers on each question, assigning three points if the respondent said it was “a good thing”, a zero if the person said it is “a bad thing,” and one point for an answer indicating they are unsure.
Australia had a Migrant Acceptance Index of 7.98 out of 9 based on the respondent averages, making the country the sixth-most accepting out of nearly 140 countries.
In another Gallup poll, 87% of Australians surveyed in 2018 said the area or city where they live is a “good place” for immigrants.
According to a ranking based on a survey of expats conducted by InterNations, a resource company for expats, Australia ranked 19th out of 64 countries in its ease of settling in index. It also ranked 10th for feeling at home. Expats in Australia seemed it is not as easy to make friends as some of the other countries surveyed, where it ranked 30th.