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Interesting thread. While statistics is well known I'd like to share IRL experience on standard of living in Slavic countries I visited (only Slavic countries I never been to are Russia and Belarus)
Living standard from best>worst
1. Czech Republic- best by far, quite cheap compared to Slovenia which is close in GDP per capita, low unemployment, beautiful cities, only roads could be better, excellent position, great cultural offerings
2. Poland- very cheap but actually great place, big country with lots of commercial hubs, rapidly improving, decent infrastructure, beautiful cities and towns, calm place, culture also seem cheap and available for working man
3. Slovenia- expensive is biggest problem, most beautiful nature, clean air, beautiful capital, closeness to Western and Southern Europe, small though and bit closed for foreigners, unless you're German speaker
4. Croatia- objectively most beautiful country in the list, good position, good roads, livable capital and coastal towns,downsides high unemployment rate, imbalance between regional development, not a good place for business, high corruption
5. Slovakia- nice country, relatively cheap, good standard, beautiful cities, downside infrastructure seems bit lacking, kinda isolated, high Gypsy population, getting better every year tho
6. Serbia- very cheap, interesting capital, not so dependent on western economic imbalances, unexpectedly open for foreign investment imo, downside low salaries, high Gypsy population, don't like Westerners much, corruption
7. Bulgaria- calm and nice place, improving standard, cheap, beautiful mountains, very friendly population from what I've experienced, downside kinda far from Western/Central Europe, also gypsies,corruption
8. Montenegro- beautiful country, lot of potential, seems better off than Serbia but small, isolated and not ideal place for business, biggest problems are high corruption and clanish mentality
9. FYROM/BiH/Ukraine- unfortunately not a good standard of living, political problems, ethnic tensions, good things are their cheapness and friendly people, but I wouldn't call them good place to live compared to other countries on the list.
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