厄瓜多爾和巴拿馬獲評最佳養老地大綱

Retirees looking to stretch their pensions might consider spending their golden years in Ecuador, Panama or Mexico, where cost of living is low and the weather is warm, according to a new index.

想更好地利用養老金的退休人員可以考慮到厄瓜多爾、巴拿馬或者墨西哥度過晚年，據一項新指數顯示，那些地方的生活成本低，而且氣溫宜人。

International Living Magazine rated the three Latin American countries the top destinations in its Retirement Index 2012, followed by Malaysia, Colombia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Spain, Thailand and Honduras.

《國際生活雜誌》將這三個拉丁美洲國家評爲2012退休指數最高的地方，緊隨其後的是馬來西亞、哥倫比亞、新西蘭、尼加拉瓜、西班牙、泰國和洪都拉斯。

"The proposition is that you can live better for less, and not sacrifice anything, if at all, in quality of life and still live on half or less of what your cost of living would be in the United States or Canada," said Dan Prescher, special projects editor for International Living.

《國際生活雜誌》的專案編輯丹•普雷舍爾說：“我們的主張是用更少的錢過更好的生活，但不會犧牲任何的生活品質，即使生活品質有所下降，生活成本卻只有在美國或加拿大的一半甚至更低。”

"As the world economic situation deteriorates that's becoming more important," he added in an interview.

“在全球經濟惡化的形勢下，這一點變得愈發重要。”他在一次採訪中補充道。

Prescher, an American who now calls Ecuador home, said he and his wife live comfortably on about $1,300 a month — for everything.

現在把厄瓜多爾當成家的美國人普雷舍爾說，他和妻子每個月花1300美元就能過得很舒服，包括所有開銷。

Honduras, Thailand, Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico offer similar lifestyles for comparable prices, according to the magazine. Meals in some of the index countries cost as little as $3, local beers sell for $1.50 and there are discounts for retirees on public transport and utilities, among other perks.

據該雜誌稱，在洪都拉斯、泰國、巴拿馬、尼加拉瓜和墨西哥也能以差不多的價格過上類似的舒適生活。在一些有指數排名的國家裏一頓飯只需花3美元，當地啤酒只賣1.5美元，退休人員在乘坐公交和使用公共設施時還能享受打折優惠和其它特權。

The magazine assessed the nations in eight categories — the price and availability of property, special benefits for retirees, cost of living, integration and assimilation into the local population, entertainment and amenities, health infrastructure, availability of high-quality healthcare and climate.

該雜誌從8個方面衡量一個國家的退休指數：房產的價格及可用性、退休人員的特殊福利、生活成本、與當地人口的融合度、娛樂和便利設施、衛生設施、高品質醫療服務以及氣候環境。

"You can go almost anywhere outside the US and live for less right now but there are some places that are easier to assimilate in," Prescher explained.

普雷舍爾解釋道：“出了美國你哪兒都能去，馬上生活成本就降低，但是有些地方是更容易融入的。”

Apart from New Zealand, which was No. 6 and Spain at No. 8, all the other nations were in Latin America or Asia, largely because of the low cost of living and the integration factor.

除了第六位的新西蘭和第八位的西班牙，其餘的國家均位於拉丁美洲或者亞洲，主要是因爲這些國家生活成本低且易於融入。

"Most of Latin America is close to the United States. It is easy to get to, easy to get back and almost everybody has some English, which makes integration good. And the cost of living throughout Latin America is incredibly low," said Prescher.

普雷舍爾說：“大多數拉丁美洲國家離美國較近。美國人來去自如而且那裏幾乎每個人都懂點英語，這樣融入當地生活就會很容易。此外拉丁美洲的生活成本低到讓人難以置信。”

Although security was not among of the categories assessed in the index, Prescher said most of the countries in the index are statistically safer than the United States.

儘管安全並未被列爲指數測評的一個方面，但普雷舍爾說從統計結果看指數排名裏的大多數國家都比美國安全。