Considering the 193 recognized countries of the world and two UN non-member observer states (Vatican City and Palestine), I can easily answer this question with mathematical analysis. I’ve assessed the level of development for each country using the Human Development Index rankings and combined that with average monthly expenses using the Cost of Living Index.

Here are the ten countries with the best balance of monthly expenses and development. Some of these have safety issues, but the question makes no mention of safety.

1.) Kazakhstan (31st cheapest, 51st most developed)

2.) Turkey (30th cheapest, 54th most developed)

3.) Belarus (41st cheapest, 53rd most developed)

4.) Palau (44th cheapest, 50th most developed)

5.) Georgia (36th cheapest, 61st most developed)

6.) Argentina (56th cheapest, 46th most developed)

7.) Colombia (20th cheapest, 83rd most developed)

8.) Romania (59th cheapest, 49th most developed)

9.) Poland (75th cheapest, 35th most developed)

10.) Sri Lanka (42nd cheapest, 72nd most developed)

If you’re curious which countries finished worst, with the unenviable combination of a higher cost of living with less development, here’s the bottom of the list.

186.) Cameroon

187.) Palestine

188.) Zimbabwe

189.) Cambodia

190.) Ivory Coast

191.) Ethiopia

192.) Senegal

193.) Federated States of Micronesia

194.) Yemen

195.) Vanuatu

Including safety

I was very curious about how these rankings would look if safety is included in the analysis. Obviously, Sri Lanka would be knocked out of contention among others. In fact, the list is dramatically different. Reader Emantsrif Emantsal was thinking the same thing, and inspired me to post a list considering safety, quality of life, and annual cost of living including housing. Here it is:

1. San Marino
2. Tonga
3. Andorra
4. Brunei
5. Grenada
6. Botswana
7. Iceland
8. Nauru
9. Mauritius
10. Liechtenstein

Disclaimer: I rarely disable the comments on any of my thousands of posts, but I simply cannot respond to anymore uninformed, ignorant comments. So I was forced to turn off the comments.

Reasons for disabling the comments here:

The most annoying comment - and it’s been incredibly frequent - is something along the lines of “How could you include Sri Lanka given the current danger there?” Did you not notice I mentioned safety issues at the top of my post, and that the original question makes no mention of safety requirements? On Quora, we strive to answer the question being asked without altering its intent.

Analogy: If a Quora question asked which American franchise sells the most chicken sandwiches per store annually, and I responded with reliable data that ranked Chick-fil-A in first place, imagine how ignorant it would be to respond, “How could you rank Chick-fil-A #1 when I don’t agree with their politics?” or, “Why did you include Chick-fil-A when their sandwiches are unhealthy?” or, “Are you kidding? Popeyes is better!” First, I didn’t personally rank them #1, the mathematical analysis did. And second, the question didn’t ask about politics nor nutritional facts nor personal taste. Those are not valid comments.

Some readers asked, “Why isn’t my country listed?” when the obvious answer is, “Because they didn’t make the top 10.” Others stated, “Did you consider my country?” when my post clearly states that I analyzed all 193 countries.

Some readers questioned my analysis, despite the fact that I have two degrees in mathematics and perform analysis for a living. But no worries. I’m fully aware that readers questioning my ability have never even heard of a harmonic mean and typically have no background in mathematics, so their comments don’t offend me. It’s merely ignorance.