The six weights (tax 32% · residency 18% · mobility 15% · living environment 14% · cost of living 13% · ownership 8%), the formula, and the primary government source per dimension. Publicly auditable, so you and your tax advisor can verify down to the cent where our numbers come from.
What is the Freedom Score, exactly?
The Freedom Score translates your personal situation into one comparable number per destination. Two values: an absolute score (0–100) for the country itself, and a delta, the difference with your departure country. The delta is the primary outcome variable: it quantifies legal differences in fiscal, residency, cost-of-living, living-environment, mobility and ownership conditions.
Absolute score 0–100
How a country scores across the six dimensions, independent of where you come from. Useful for broad comparison.
Delta vs. home country
The difference relative to your current country, our primary UI value. +15 = you gain 15 freedom points; −8 = you lose ground.
The six weights
Fixed weights, configured in our open source code. Not adjustable per profile.
💰Tax
32%
🏛️Residency
18%
🛒Cost of living
13%
🌿Living environment
14%
🛂Mobility
15%
🏘️Ownership
8%
Sum = 100% · weights are fixed and publicly verifiable
What each dimension measures
For each dimension: what we measure, how we measure it, and which source the numbers come from.
💰
Tax
32%
The heaviest dimension because it most directly affects your net income. Based on your effective tax rate (not the top rate), plus wealth and inheritance tax, the crypto regime, the treaty network, and a possible box-2 exit charge if you bring your own holding company.
How we calculate it
100 minus your effective tax rate (normalised). Bonus for the treaty network (max +15) and, for investors/entrepreneurs, a favourable crypto regime (+3 to +8). Penalties for wealth tax (−12), inheritance tax (−5), a box-2 exit charge with your own holding company (−8), and property-exit risk under a non-territorial regime (−3).
Primary source
National tax authorities (Belastingdienst, BMF, FPS Finance, Agenzia delle Entrate, Autoridade Tributária Portugal, Cyprus Tax Department, UAE Ministry of Finance) and OECD tax-treaty publications.
🏛️
Residency
18%
How easy it actually is to obtain residency, not on paper but in practice, including the path to citizenship. Within the EU/EEA there is free movement (registration only); outside it, difficulty and processing time count.
How we calculate it
Moving within the EU/EEA scores 95 (registration only). Otherwise 100 − difficulty score × 8 − processing months ÷ 4. Bonus for a faster citizenship path (max +8), a light penalty if citizenship is impossible (−5), and for larger households (couple −3, family −8).
Primary source
Official immigration agencies (IND Netherlands, BAMF Germany, OFII France, SEF Portugal, Cyprus Migration Department, UAE GDRFA, and equivalent bodies).
🛒
Cost of living
13%
A dimension of its own (previously hidden inside lifestyle): how much your purchasing power changes. Cheaper than your home country scores high, more expensive scores low. It weighs more heavily the lower your income.
How we calculate it
50 + (1 − cost ratio) × 100 × income factor, where the cost ratio = destination cost index ÷ home country. The income factor runs from ~1.4 at a low income (≈€2,000/mo) to ~0.5 at a high income (≈€15,000/mo).
Primary source
Numbeo Cost of Living Index and Eurostat price-level indicators (HICP).
🌿
Living environment
14%
The infrastructure of daily life, without the cost (that sits in Cost of living): banking, internet, safety and healthcare. Not a taste judgment, only measurable quality.
How we calculate it
The average of four indicators (banking ease, internet quality, safety and healthcare quality, each on a 1-10 scale), scaled to 0-100.
Primary source
World Bank banking indicators, Speedtest Global Index, Numbeo Safety Index, and WHO/OECD healthcare-quality data.
🛂
Mobility
15%
The travel freedom you keep. You hold on to your own passport until possible naturalisation, so this mainly measures the visa-free reach of your current passport, with light weighting of the destination passport if naturalisation is fast.
How we calculate it
The visa-free destinations count of your current passport (0–195) normalised to 0–100. If naturalisation in the destination is fast, the eventual passport strength is weighted in (max 50%); you never drop below your current passport.
Primary source
IATA Timatic (the operational database airlines use to validate travel documents), the Henley Passport Index, and official MFA publications per country.
🏘️
Ownership
8%
Can you, as a foreigner, own real estate, and how freely? Granular per country (e.g. Lex Koller in Switzerland, no land ownership in Thailand), with extra weight if you already hold property.
How we calculate it
A granular 0–100 ownership score per country; where absent, a fallback of 85 (foreign ownership permitted) or 45 (restricted). −10 if you already own property AND the destination restricts ownership.
Primary source
Official land registries and foreign-ownership legislation from the Ministry of Justice or local equivalent per country.
What the score means
We translate the delta into one of six labels, so you can tell at a glance whether the difference is meaningful.
Delta
Label
Interpretation
+20
Substantial gain
A materially different fiscal-legal reality. Relocating would have measurable impact.
+10
Clear gain
Noticeable benefit across multiple dimensions. Ask yourself: does it outweigh the relocation costs?
+3
Slight gain
Marginal advantage. Other considerations (family, language, climate) will likely tip the scale.
−3 / +3
Comparable
Statistically no difference. Freedom in these countries is roughly equal.
−10
Slight loss
Limited regression. Sometimes acceptable for quality-of-life reasons, but not for fiscal ones.
< −10
Substantial loss
Materially less freedom. Worth knowing if you're considering anyway, usually a no-go on purely fiscal-legal grounds.
What we do and don't use as a source
We limit citations to primary, official sources. Every figure in your report includes a direct URL and access date.
✓National tax authorities and Ministry of Finance publications
✓OECD tax-treaty publications and BEPS reports
✓IATA Timatic for visa-free travel data
✓Official immigration agencies per country for residency rules
✓Eurostat, World Bank, Numbeo and WHO for living-environment and cost-of-living indicators
What we don't use as a primary source
✗Wikipedia, excellent as a starting point, unsuitable as citation
✗Blogs and relocation influencers, often outdated or commercially driven
✗AI summaries or secondary databases without public review trail
What the Freedom Score is not
We're honest about the limits of this tool. Our score is a comparison starting point, not a substitute for professional advice.
•Not tax, legal, or financial advice as defined under the Dutch Wft. For acting on findings, consult a qualified advisor licensed in the relevant jurisdiction.
•A snapshot. Tax regimes change, our data is updated periodically, but there can be lag between law changes and updates.
•Personal factors (language, family, climate preference, social ties) are not in the score. A country with +5 delta that you hate is not an improvement.
•Social contributions, municipal levies, and specific deductions are shown in simplified form. The report goes deeper, but for your actual tax return you need a tax advisor.
INTERACTIVE · LAFFER CURVE
Where do you stand on the Laffer curve?
At some point, raising taxes yields less revenue, not more. Economist Arthur Laffer sketched this on a napkin in 1974 in Washington, across the table from Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. At 0% the state collects nothing; at 100% also nothing, because no one works on the books. Between those extremes lies a revenue peak. Beyond it, talent leaves, income shifts to lower brackets, or evasion rises, and total revenue falls. According to CPB (Jacobs/Jongen/Zoutman, 2013), the Dutch peak sits around 49%, statutory Box 1 is 49.5%, right at the summit. Move your income to see which bracket you fall into and how the Netherlands compares to 33 other jurisdictions.
Gain (less tax)+€ 2,118/yr+3.5 pp
Gross monthly income€ 5,000/mo
€ 1.5k€ 5k€ 15k€ 30k
ascending side – more revenue
Departure (F)Destination (T)Revenue-peak zone
Statutory vs. regime: This comparison shows statutory top rates (apples-to-apples). Special regimes (PT IFICI, IT impatriati, ES Beckham, CY non-dom, NL 30%-ruling, GE Small Business, TH LTR-visa) often reduce the effective burden substantially but don't apply to everyone – calculate your situation in the calculator.
CPB Policy Brief 2013/04 – Jacobs/Jongen/Zoutman, "Over de top" – Dutch revenue-maximizing top rate at 49% (statutory 49.5% = right at the summit).
Trabandt & Uhlig 2011, JME – "How Far Are We From The Slippery Slope? The Laffer Curve Revisited" – revenue-maximizing rate in advanced economies between 49 and 55%.
Diamond & Saez 2011, JEP – "The Case for a Progressive Tax" – formula for optimal top rate using Pareto coefficient and behavioral elasticity.
Illustrative model with a stylised curve. The 49% peak is the CPB mid-estimate for the Netherlands (Jacobs/Jongen/Zoutman, 2013). Exactly where the top sits depends on behaviour: if income barely responds to rates it shifts toward 73% (Diamond-Saez); the more mobile you are, the lower your personal tipping point.
Not advice. Research data, not prediction. Tax burden based on public statutory rates; effective burden differs through deductions and social contributions. Uncertainty band reflects the range of empirical ETI estimates (0.2 to 0.5).
·Re-verified against primary sources before every quarterly close
Libaros provides informational reports, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Read our full disclaimer