The cost of living has risen worldwide and with many now feeling the pinch, it’s more important than ever to be responsible with your money and spend where it’s smartest. The cost of living is also a defining factor for many when choosing whether to stay put or move to a country where their expenses are easier on the pocket.
 
Having a good hold over your finances comes in many different forms, from savings; managing a mortgage and planning for your pension; to making investments that could see your money work even harder.
 
With there being so many nuances to what defines someone that is ‘money conscious’, we decided to see if we could find out where in the world is taking the most care of their finances.
 
The 25 Most Money-Conscious Countries in the World
 
To find the most financially responsible countries, we compiled a list of terms and phrases related to being sensible with your money. These included simple terms like ‘finance advice’, to more specific money-orientated searches such as ‘best savings accounts’, ‘how to save for a house’, ‘pension advice’ and ‘what is compound interest’.
 
The 20+ terms were then translated where necessary, and our team analysed which countries were searching for them most regularly. These searches were calculated against relative population size, in order to keep the results fair.
 
The United Kingdom came out on top as the country where residents are paying the most attention to how they’re managing their money. With interest rates rising and energy cost concerns troubling many, the 3,020,120 average yearly searches for finance advice are telling of the current situation in the UK.
 
With a money responsibility score of 21 (annual searches divided by population), Australia ranks as the second most money conscious country in the world. Another nation experiencing interest rate rises, the number of times residents are searching for finance advice is relatively high when compared to its population.
 
The Czech Republic completes the top three, while Germany, Portugal and the United States also feature in the top ten. While outside of the top ten, Denmark and Canada, two countries known as being some of the happiest places to live in the world, do rank particularly well for being sensible with their money.

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Outside of analysing which countries are most money conscious on the whole, we also wanted to break our findings down further, to see how this differed when it comes to specific areas of money management.
 
For example, which country is prepping for their pension the most? Where is looking to make the most investments? Let’s find out.
 
Where Saves The Most?
 
Saving is arguably the most important aspect towards being responsible with your money. However, it’s something that can be difficult, especially in tough financial times with rising fuel and energy costs.
 
Crowned as the most responsible country overall, the UK also has the biggest savers, with more Brits searching for savings advice than anywhere else. Meanwhile, other big savers include those from Singapore, Norway and New Zealand.

Where in the World Is Most Focused on Mortgages?
 
If you’ve lived in a country for long enough and want to put down long-term roots, a goal for many will be to buy a house and get a mortgage. While this differs from country to country, buying a house will always require sizable sums of money, and therefore a prudent approach to your finances will enable you to buy the house of your dreams.
 
Our research revealed that it’s residents of the United States searching for ‘how to get a mortgage’ most, followed by those in the United Kingdom, Barbados and Canada.

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Where Is The Most Pension-Conscious?
 
Financial planning for the future is also highly important if you want to enjoy a fulfilling retirement. Putting money into a good pension is one of the most effective ways to do this, leading many to search online for pension advice.
 
Residents of Slovakia are by far the most pension conscious, with an average of 22,300 searches for ‘pension advice’ being typed into Google each year. Somewhat unsurprisingly, with retirement ages increasing and national concerns over the state pension, the United Kingdom ranks in fourth, alongside Israel, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Netherlands in particular is widely regarded as having one of the best pension systems in the world, which draws in many expats year after year.

Where Is The Investment Capital of the World?
 
While investing your money can be associated with risks, doing it properly can be a way to get the very best out of your money and make it work harder for you.
 
Estonia ranks as the capital of investments. Reportedly having the most start-ups and investments per capita in Europe, Estonia is a highly favourable place to set up a business and invest, so it should come as no surprise that it comes out on top.
 
Interestingly, the Seychelles and Grenada also rank in the top five; both have robust economic environments which also make investing a wise move within the countries.

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Methodology
 
Remitly used 24 search terms relating to money management (e.g., ‘Finance advice’, ‘how to save money’, ‘pension advice’) and used Google Keyword Planner to analyse which countries were collectively searching for these terms the most.
 
These search volumes were then divided by each country’s 2022 population (source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/ ) for fairness and then ranked. Countries where no data/limited data was present were omitted from the results.
 
Where relevant, all terms were translated before data was analysed.
 
Data correct as of August 2022.