Introducing: NORC Countries

When embarking on a life changing adventure such as uprooting your world and relocating to some distant land, making sure you are moving to the right place in seriously important. There is no substitute for putting in the legwork, checking out the reviews, talking to people who have lived there, visiting the city; there is no one size fits all way to find out where is best for everyone.

However, there are a number of studies, surveys and reports that can be a strong grounding for individual research and can be a good jumping off point for those who have no idea where to move. Of course one such survey is the Expat Explorer Survey, which this blog supports and will release the 2011 findings next week, but this post aims to take a slightly different angle.

There are lots and lots of studies on the best places for women to live and work, and the general consensus is that NORC countries (which stands for Northern Rim Countries and consists of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Russian Federation and the northern United States) come out on top. Have a look at this video to see where countries from across the globe fair for women, then scroll down to find out just why Scandinavian countries are so great for women and see if you are inspired.

JESS3 x Economist: Women's Economic Opportunity from JESS3 on Vimeo.

In the coming days Expat Explorer will provide a mini-series of country focuses on some NORC countries that seem to top the charts of places for women to live and work time and time again. They will cover the benefits of each individual country, how to find out more and insight from expats who already live there, so you can a real feel for the place.