Quito, January 3 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Ecuador topped this year’s Annual Global Retirement Index released Thursday by InternationalLiving.com. The index is based on data collected from expats and experts regarding eight criteria.

The best destinations “are secure countries, with a good quality-price ratio, and are places where one can settle down relatively easily,” said the executive editor of InternationalLiving.com Jennifer Stevens.

Ecuador scored 92.7 out of 100, standing out for its weather, the low cost of housing, flights, public transportation and other public services offered by the government to the retired.

Panama, Mexico, Malaysia and Costa Rica were also ranked within the top 25 countries by the survey.

The Expat Insider says Ecuador reached the highest 2014 ranking for “meeting people,” based on a survey of 14,000 expatriates in 160 nations. The city of Cuenca, Ecuador was also named the second best place in the world to live, after the Algarve region of Portugal, in the 2014 Retire Overseas Index compiled this fall by the Live and Invest Overseas site.