While Ireland jumped from 30th place last year to ninth this year, it did not rank well in the digital and physical infrastructure category.
Ireland has placed in the top 10 countries for remote workers according to a list compiled by data from NordLayer. The virtual private network company’s Global Remote Work Index 2023 placed Ireland at number nine for remote workers, ahead of Slovakia and behind Lithuania.
Ireland’s performance in this year’s index is a pretty big improvement on its ranking in the 2022 index, which was published last July. At the time, it ranked in 30th place out of a total of 66 nations. Ireland’s success this year is particularly noteworthy because the index has been expanded to include 108 countries.
Last year, eight out of the top 10 countries were European. Germany was the number one spot for remote workers followed by Denmark and the US. This year, the US slipped all the way down to 16th place. In fact, all of the top 10 best remote working spots in 2023 are in Europe. Denmark took the top place, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania, Ireland and Slovakia. Canada was the first non-European location to enter the ranking at number 14.
This year’s index was based on data that was analysed in the first half of the year. It looked at different countries’ performance in areas such as cybersecurity, economics, digital and physical infrastructure. A new criteria – social safety – was added this year. It assessed locations’ overall safety and human rights situations.
When these different pillars were factored in, the picture changed somewhat. For cyber safety and cybersecurity, Slovakia ranked number one, followed by Estonia, Lithuania, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Ireland ranked 15th, up from 22nd since last year.
The UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the top five most economically viable remote working places. Ireland was 14th, ahead of Finland and behind Austria. The country’s fortunes slipped when it came to the digital and physical infrastructure category, however, where Ireland ranked 27th, ahead of Lithuania and behind Estonia. Singapore took the top spot, with South Korea, the UAE, Denmark and Switzerland rounding out the top five.
The new category, social safety, was dominated by European countries. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway and Finland were the top five. Japan was the first non-European nation to make the list in 10th place. Ireland ranked in 18th, ahead of Estonia and behind Slovenia. The worst performers according to the overall index were Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Honduras and Guatemala.
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