We know that there are over 10 countries offering citizenship by investment and over 20 countries offering golden visa residency schemes for wealthy families and investors. The Growth of Golden visa /CBI industry is nearing 15 billion in 2018 and expected to more with more and more countries offering investor visas for investors

Clients may have a difficulty locating CBI countries on a map. But what is known about these countries in terms of economy, debt, population, healthcare education, safety? Is the economy stable and investment will be safe?

These are vital indicators we have compiled, clients need to check before investing in these countries for citizenship or residency.

There are several interesting information available from the economic indicators among countries offering Golden visa or citizenship schemes…

• St Kitts population is only 55,000 while Moldova has 3.5M population
• Ireland and Malta had the highest GDP growth in 2017. Vanuatu also surprisingly 4.5% GDP growth.
• New Zealand is the most preferred country for UHNW population, competes with United Kingdom, Cyprus with 2 million investment
• Thailand is the cheapest residency program in the world offering residence visa for just $15,000
• Maria was Dominica’s worst natural disaster with damage estimated at US$1.3 billion (226 percent of GDP) and because of this disaster, Dominica GDP growth is in negative. IMF said it will take 5 years to recover at pre-hurricane levels.
• FDI inflows in St Lucia is higher than St Kitts and Grenada.
• Luxembourg and Ireland are the richest countries in terms of GDP per capita.
• Inflation is very high in Moldova.
• New Zealand ranks first in doing business, registering a property above any other country in the world.
• House prices have jumped by 11% in Ireland and 8.9% in Portugal.
• US, Spain and Italy are the top 3 nations with highest tourist arrivals. Saint Lucia has highest tourist arrivals than all the other caribbean CBI countries.
• Australia and New Zealand have the highest Human development index (HDI)
• Greece, Italy and Portugal still have has the high government debt above 100%
• New Zealand, Portugal and Canada are the safest peaceful countries in the world.
• Italy passport is the best passport  among Golden visa /CBI programs
• Australia and Canada are best countries in OECD better life index.
• US imposes taxes on worldwide income and highest personal income taxes are in Canada, Luxembourg, United States, Ireland. Bulgaria, Cyprus and Ireland have the lowest corporate tax rates.

Investment for citizenship/residency

GDP (annual growth) 2017

Annual growth of GDP% in 2017

Total Population

Richest countries (GDP per capita)

Government Debt

Sortable table (not available on mobile) Country	Date	Total (gross) government debt as % of GDP (IMF)
Greece	2017	181.906
Italy	2017	131.454
Portugal	2017	125.619
United States	2017	107.785
Cyprus	2017	99.258
Spain	2017	98.364
Jordan	2017	95.557
Dominica	2016	87.57
United Kingdom	2017	87.029
Antigua and Barbuda	2016	86.823
Grenada	2016	71.448
Saint Lucia	2016	71.262
Ireland	2017	68.52
Montenegro	2016	67.493
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2016	62.378
Netherlands	2017	56.658
Malta	2017	52.622
Vanuatu	2016	48.412
Thailand	2017	41.882
Dominican Republic	2017	37.743
Latvia	2017	34.835
Turkey	2017	28.482
New Zealand	2017	26.428
Moldova	2017	24.489
Bulgaria	2017	23.927
Luxembourg	2017	23.032

House prices Growth

The grwoth of real estate house prices, annual percent change in Q1 1018. Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, Thailand and Spain are the countries offering investor visas against property investment

Safest countries

Safest countries in the world according to Global peace index 2018.  New Zealand, Portugal, Canada are the top countries

Passport rank

Passport power with visa free travel freedom is one of the important indicators of Golden visa/ CBI programs.

Tax rates by countries

Taxes must not be overlooked by UHNWs when applying for golden visa investment.

Country	Corporate tax	Income tax (minimum )	Income tax (maximum )
Australia	28.5%–30%	0%	47%
Bulgaria	10% (+5% on distribution of profit)	10%	10% + 18% social security fund tax
Canada	13%[44]	19% (15% federal tax + 4%–11% provincial tax)[45][46]	58.75% in Quebec(33% federal tax + 25.75% provincial and local tax)[47][48]
Cyprus	12.5%	0%	35%
Dominica	N/A	N/A	N/A
Greece	29% (+29% paid in advance & returned after 1 year)	22% (€1,900 tax deducted if income <€21,000)	45%
Grenada	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ireland	12.5%	20% (first €1,650 per year is deductible)	52% (40% Income Tax + 12% social insurance contributions on income above €70,000, 9% social security contributions between €18,000 and €70,000)
Jordan	20%	0%	14%
Latvia	0% / 20% (flat tax rate) [96]	23% (flat tax rate)	23%
Luxembourg	29.22%	6%	52.45% total: 40%[104] + 12.45% social security charges[105]
Malta	0–10% (35%[32]pre rebate)	0%	35%
Moldova	12%	7%	18%
Montenegro	9%[118][119]	9% (first EUR 720)	15%
Netherlands	20% on first €250,000 profit.25% on €250,001+ profit	36.55% (first €21.103 per year is deductible)	51.95% [125] + reduction of deductions (arbeidskorting and general korting)
New Zealand	28%	10.5%[126]	33%[127]
Portugal	21%	14.5%	48%
Saint Kitts and Nevis	0 %	0 %	0 %
Saint Lucia	N/A	N/A	N/A
Spain	25%	0% (below €12,000)	45%
Thailand	20%	0%	35%
Turkey[31]	20%	15%	35%
United Kingdom	19%	20% £11,851 to £46,350, 0% under 11,850 and 40% £46351 to £150,000 [162]	45% [163] (on income over £150,000)
United States	21% + 0–12% State/Local[32]	0% (federal) + 0% (state) + 0%–3% (local)	51.8% =37% (max federal[165]) + 13.3% (max state[166]) + 1.5% (city)
Vanuatu	N/A	N/A	N/A

The following table summarizes the taxation of local and foreign income of individuals, depending on their residence or citizenship in the country.

Country or territory	Taxes local income of			Taxes foreign income of
	nonresident individuals	resident citizens	resident foreigners	resident citizens	resident foreigners	nonresident citizens
Antigua and Barbuda	no	no	no	no	no	no
Bahamas	no	no	no	no	no	no
Bahrain	no	no	no	no	no	no
Brunei	no	no	no	no	no	no
Cayman Islands	no	no	no	no	no	no
Kuwait	no	no	no	no	no	no
Maldives	no	no	no	no	no	no
Monaco	no	no	no	no	no	no
Nauru	no	no	no	no	no	no
Oman	no	no	no	no	no	no
Pitcairn Islands	no	no	no	no	no	no
Qatar	no	no	no	no	no	no
Saint Barthelemy	no	no	no	no	no	no
Saint Kitts and Nevis	no	no	no	no	no	no
Somalia	no	no	no	no	no	no
Turks and Caicos Islands	no	no	no	no	no	no
United Arab Emirates	no	no	no	no	no	no
Vanuatu	no	no	no	no	no	no
Vatican City	no	no	no	no	no	no
Wallis and Futuna	no	no	no	no	no	no
Western Sahara	no	no	no	no	no	no

Best Golden visa schemes for UHNW population

1. New Zealand $2m

2. United Kingdom £2m

3. Australia $1.5m 4. United States $500K

5. Canada $1.2m

7. *Malta $1.1m

8. *Cyprus €2m

9. Ireland €1m

10. Spain €500K

* Citizenship by investment

Top 10 countries in OECD better life index

1. Norway

2. Denmark

3. Australia

4. Sweden

5. Canada

6. Switzerland

7. Iceland

8. United States

9. Finland

10. Netherlands

11. New Zealand