A Cypriot-based law firm has ranked Malta as the second-best coastal country in Europe to relocate to, only behind Croatia.

This was based off an index of six factors: average household spending per person; housing costs as a proportion of household income; personal tax competitiveness; perceived local crime, violence or vandalism; modelled annual sunshine duration; and mean temperature.

After ranking 22 European coastal countries, i.e., countries with a coastline on any sea or ocean, Malta was ranked second from the bunch with an index score of 80.91 from 100. Malta was identified as the second-sunniest and warmest country in this study, with 3,963 hours of annual sunshine each year and a mean temperature of 20.7°C.

Malta's average household spending per person per year stood at €17,570, while housing costs were found to make up 12.6% of household income.

Malta's personal tax competitiveness score was the third-best of all analysed countries (93.8), trailing only Romania (97.7) and Bulgaria (100).

The perceived local crime rate of 7.40% ranked eleventh from the 22 coastal countries analysed.

Croatia ranked first with an index score of 85.76/100, performing well in all six factors and noticeably with the lowest rate of perceived local crime, violence or vandalism (1.4%), as per Eurostat in 2023. It was recorded as one of the most financially accessible destinations on the entire list, with average annual household spend per capita standing at €12,410; housing costs also accounted for 11.5% of income, which was the second-lowest score overall.

Following Malta in this index, in third place, was Romania, followed by Cyprus, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Poland.

Germany ranked bottom of this index with its high average annual household spend per capita, tax rates, relative burden of housing costs, and its low mean temperature (10.8°C). The next lowest-ranked countries in this index were Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, and Sweden.

Nikolas Avgousti, who is an associate at the Philippou Law Firm responsible for this index, said that "Countries like Croatia and Malta are becoming increasingly attractive to expats and remote workers not just for their climate and living costs, but because they also score strongly for personal tax competitiveness. Malta was rated third best for personal tax competitiveness in our study, while Croatia also performs well, meaning these countries should certainly be on your radar if you're planning a move abroad."

Avgousti remarked that relocating to a new country is one of the most significant decisions a person can make, and that tax implications can be one of the most overlooked aspects. "While salary and cost of living are of course important, the rate and simplicity of personal taxation can make a dramatic difference to how far your income stretches, and it's something people often don't think about until they've already made the move," he said.

He added that countries ranking near the bottom of this index, such as Germany, scored poorly for their personal tax competitiveness.

Philippou Law Firm remarked that this index does not assess individual immigration, residence, or tax eligibility.

The scores within this index were derived from a mix of findings from Eurostat and Open-Meteo, except for personal tax competitiveness, which derived from the Tax Foundation European Tax Policy Scorecard (2025).