Best place to live: Denmark, Germany, or the Netherlands?
In international comparisons, both Denmark and the Netherlands are often at or near the top. Germany isn't too far behind. Germany is much larger than both and seems to have more too offer within its borders, however if I lived in either Denmark or the Netherlands, it would be quite fast and cheap to visit Germany and see those places. I'm more concerned about long term life, ease of living, employment chances, how much money I'll have after taxes and paying for life necessities (rent, food, health), language difficulty, education, safety, little visible poverty and homelessness, convenient location, proximity to the ocean, and climate. I think the Netherlands may edge out the rest, except perhaps in safety? In the Global Peace Index, the Netherlands ranks 27, well below Germany and Denmark, but the Index factors in so many things, it's hard to tell if this is due to crime or military expenditure or what. Denmark seems safe, but the cost of living is apparently quite high and it may be more difficult to find work there than the Netherlands. Also, the location is not as great and the cities seem less interesting. However, in the best city rankings, German cities and Copenhagen are often in the top 10, but none of the cities in the Netherlands are for some reason (anyone know?). I'm a moderate drinker at most, so I'm not sure I'd fit in with the drinking culture of Germany and Denmark as well. I'm not religious, so Denmark and the Netherlands may be better in that regard. The easy answer is to go visit them all, but the tourist experience is different than living some place. I'd like to know what people who have lived in these countries think. Forgot to mention, the friendliness of the local people is another factor I think is important.
Other - Europe - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
My vote is for Denmark. Been there and really like it.
2 :
Denmark all the way, richer country too
3 :
Being a national of the Netherlands, and having visited both Denmark and Germany more than once each, I say this is a question that is impossible to answer for anybody but yourself. Take time to visit each of the countries, visit each of the areas you would like to live and make your choice based on that. Do not go as tourist, but spend a week or more in each potential place to settle and interact with the local people, talk with the people in the smaller shops and see how they react on a foreigner. Walk in at a real estate agency and see what they have on offer for a place to stay within your budget and whether they are willing to help you find something cheaper if needed. But more importantly, make your choice based on where you can build a good future. If you do not speak the local language in any of the countries, you will not fit in in the long run, and that will hinder your future happiness, even when everybody around you is happy. If you do not know any of the languages yet, look up how much help you can get learning them where you live now. Likely German is the only one you have lessons for all over the world. And neither Dutch nor Danish are easy for a foreigner. And with both you will stand out as a foreigner that is trying to learn the language, or a foreigner that is too lazy to try, and will be judged based on that. In Germany you will have the same, but on top of that, if you move to certain areas, the German you can learn in school will not help you at all, as everybody speaks the local dialect and a heavy local accent in their High German. And can you just up and move? You asked this question on the USA version of Y!A, as far as I can see. Does that mean you are US citizen? If so, do you have a second nationality, one from Europe? If not, your chances to move to Europe will be almost nothing. In that case it might be 'grab what you can, you will not have a better chance' with the different countries having slightly different rules for highly educated immigrants getting work permits. When there are no legal or language reasons to select one country over the others, landscape may be. If you love mountains, you have to be in the south of Germany. If you fall in love with the really flat landscape of the Netherlands, that is where you should look to settle. I found Denmark charming, when visiting as tourist, but outside the few big cities, I have been to Copenhagen and have not seen any other 'big' city, you will find small towns and villages, the kind where a stranger will stand out and will need to adjust him to the town, because it will not happen the other way around. Germany and the Netherlands have more of a variety in city sizes, and a wider selection of cities in the mid range, Germany also in the big city range. Economics should have little or no impact on your choice, as live is good in all three countries and not noticeably better in any. Even when the local prices are a bit higher, the wages will be higher too, making up for the difference.
4 :
I wouldn't worry that much about religion and drinking culture, in my experience the people of all three cultures are pretty relaxed when it comes to personal choices like that. All three countries are also safe to live in, but of course, don't go wandering alone at night in the big cities etc. Use common sense. I would say that the culture in the Netherlands and Denmark are quite similar, whereas Germany is more formal. Obviously chances are that you will be closer to the ocean when you live in the Netherlands or Denmark. In Denmark no place is further than approx. 1 hours drive from the ocean. You are right that visiting will not give you the full picture of how it is to live in these countries. I've been an expat myself and I would say that it usually takes about 4 years before you truly know what it is like, especially if you need to learn a foreign language first. After that, it should hopefully start to feel like home. The best you can do is to do your home work regarding healthcare, jobmarket etc. Also try to read up as much as possible about cultural differences. At a first glance you would think that there wouldn't be that much of a difference between countries that are that close to each other, but there is and these will surface once you start to live there - and if you are not prepared it can give rise to misunderstandings and bad experiences. Danes for example show politeness through body language and friendliness, whereas the Germans use formal phrases and the polite form of addressing each other, so Germans often find Danes rude and Danes often find Germans stiff and formal. As for making friends, I have some German and Dutch friends, but in general I don't know how it is with the Dutch and the Germans, since I've only visited those countries, but I know the Danes can seem reserved to expats. 90% of it, however, is because they don't want to bother or disturb you, so if you chose Denmark, be aware that you will in most cases have to make the first move when it comes to making new friends, but if you do that, then it should be okay. Another bit of advice is not to rely solely on fellow expats for company. I know it is much easier to make expat friends than locals, but there is an obvious pitfall to that when it comes to successful integration. My mother did that when she first moved to Denmark, and I have seen her turn down Danish friendships over the years, because she felt she had enough in her expat friends. Now she's retired and regrets it bitterly. Her words, not mine. Also, every country seems to have a hate group with expats hating their new country. Get caught up in one of those and it will taint your view, so pick your friends carefully. I am not saying that any country is perfect, you will experience good, bad and things that are neither, but just different, but no country is hell on earth, populated by demon spawn either. ;)
5 :
Of the 3 Denmark has the highest taxes and highest cost of living. I was paying over 60% taxes in Denmark and that was for a middle manager type job, not an executive. My rent was more than NYC, utilities, food, etc were all expensive. I was there for almost 4 years and didn't save anything. I'm in London now, which is also expensive, but able to save money living here - something I couldn't do in Denmark -- but I was living in Copenhagen which is expensive. If you don't speak fluent Danish it's VERY difficult to find work. I was lucky because I was transferred over with work and English was the working language in our office but still took Danish language courses. I knew so many people who had moved to Denmark to be with their partners and couldn't get any work because their Danish was not perfect. One Irish woman was a nurse, which is a job that is in demand, and still couldn't get work because she was told her accent was too strong when she tried to speak Danish and patients wouldn't understand her - even though none of her Danish friends or her husbank thought there was any problem with the way she spoke. Another friend who had been living abroad came back to Denmark with her American husband who was a highly skilled engineer but he couldn't get work because of language skills so he stayed home with the baby while she went back to work. An English friend living with her boyfriend worked 2 days a week in an Irish pub because she was cute but the only other job she could get was cleaning hotel rooms, and that was after a year in Danish classes. So unless you can get transferrred over or work for a big company like Maersk or Deloitte where the working language in English since they have so many expats working there, a job is going to be very difficult I also lived in Germany but that was as a student for a year in Freiburg, so I can't comment how it is to actually find a job there but without speaking German I can't imagine it would be easy I have a few friends who have lived in the Netherlands and were able to find work without speaking Dutch when they arrived - one was a makeup artists, one a web designer and one works for an international management consultancy. The one working for the consultancy is American (from NYC) and loves Amsterdam and plans to stay there
6 :
Denmark FTW!
