£1,500 a month, a couple
9 of the 52 countries we track are comfortably within £1,500 a month for a couple. The table shows what is left over in each after normal living costs — rent, food, utilities, transport and private health cover.
| Country | Modest | Comfortable | Spare on £1,500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | £950 | £1,400 | £100 left |
| Cambodia | £850 | £1,400 | £100 left |
| Sri Lanka | £800 | £1,350 | £150 left |
| Tunisia | £850 | £1,300 | £200 left |
| India | £750 | £1,300 | £200 left |
| Laos | £750 | £1,250 | £250 left |
| Bulgaria | £780 | £1,200 | £300 left |
| Albania | £750 | £1,200 | £300 left |
| Egypt | £650 | £1,050 | £450 left |
These sit within about 20% of your budget — possible on a modest standard of living, or if you own outright and have no rent to pay: Cape Verde (£1,600), Ecuador (£1,600), Dominican Republic (£1,650), Philippines (£1,650), Vietnam (£1,700).
Below about £1,600 a month the gap between a workable retirement and a stressful one is almost entirely housing. In most of the countries above, moving fifteen minutes out of the tourist centre halves the rent and changes nothing else about your day.
This is also the budget where owning outright stops being a nice-to-have. With no rent, most of these countries fall under £900 a month and the figure stops being tight at all — which is why people at this level often buy something small rather than rent something better.
The thing that catches people out is health cover after 70. Premiums rise sharply, and at this budget an unplanned increase is the most common reason a move home becomes forced.
It assumes you are renting, and it excludes flights home, tax on your pension in your home country, and the cost of any property you still own there. Those three are what most often break an otherwise sound plan.
Working to about £1,500 a month? The four questions take two minutes and tell you honestly whether buying abroad fits your situation.