Best and worst countries for single women to live in - NZ better than Australia

A study of 35 nations found New Zealand to be the 17th best country for single women to live. Photo / Unsplash

Single women living in New Zealand are better off staying put rather than moving to Australia, according to a recent study.

The index, produced by Australian price comparison service Compare The Market, found New Zealand was the 17th most livable country for single women in a ranking of 35 destinations. Australia was ranked 20th.

Each destination was ranked out of 10 for several different metrics including the average wage and wage gap, safety, cost of living, and world happiness ranking.

According to these metrics, Iceland was deemed the “most livable” destination for solo women with a score of 7.03 out of 10. This was followed by Denmark with a score of 6.73 and Slovenia, which scored 6.69.

The worst-rated destinations were Mexico, The Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Latvia with scores of 2.77, 2.78 and 3.09 respectively.

The US is 30th most livable country for single women in a ranking of 35 destinations. Photo / Getty Images

The US didn’t fare much better, coming in 30th place due to relatively low scores aside from average wage, which it scored first place in. However, the average wage was not adjusted according to the cost of living.

Aside from the incorporation of the wage gap data from the OECD, the rankings do not appear to be exclusively relevant for women or single women.

However, Compare The Market’s website suggested safety ratings may also be more important to the latter demographic.

“Single women may want to place more emphasis on factors such as safety and may also wish to consider a nation’s history of discrimination and gender inequality,” read the company’s website.

Compare the Market’s general manager of money, Stephen Zeller, said it was disappointing to see how poorly some nations fared.

“This data shows us that a lot of places around the world still have a lot of work to do when it comes to improving liveability for single women,” he said.

For those moving country, whether they are single females or not, Zeller said it was important to know if it ranks highly in things you value.

“If you are planning a move overseas, it is vitally important to research your chosen country to see how it performs in the areas that matter most to you,” he said.