Which country?

Oh no, don't do that to yourself and move to Sweden. I've been spending three years of my life figuring out how to get the hell out of here. Unless you want to live in a claustrophobic, cold, dull, and unfriendly country, please don't move here. Canada will probably suit you better as it's way more friendly, equal, bigger (thus has more to offer you), more economically powerful, etc.

Toronto is probably good, if you can handle the cold weather that is, as it does snow a lot, and it gets really cold.

 

I live in the U.S. currently, but I want to move to Japan Nyu~ Or maybe Ireland Nyu~

 

The UK isn't too bad, and the weather isn't as bad as people here would have you believe.

However, if we have more than one flake of snow then the whole country goes into panic mode and the entire transportation system is screwed!!

 

You don't want to move to the US because of the Mountain Dew and a dumb A&F employee? Now, I can't tell you in good conscience to move to the US (hey I'm Canadian, lol), but I think you'll have a hard time finding a place you like because every country has a few weird things going on or random weird people on the news... Might as well tell you Alberta has tar sands (but no income tax, so that's nice), Quebec has a subway worker who punched a client for speaking to her in English and a Premier who wants to forbid religious expression in the public sector (ie wearing hijab, kippa, large crosses) and the use of English in businesses (everything has to be in French, there's a special kind of "police" that goes around to ensure compliance), Toronto has an IDIOT of a mayor who smokes crack (and you can't get a nice house there for less than 1+ million dollars), and so on. And yes, Canada is coldddddddddd, far colder than the UK. We had -30C for several days over this winter, and -15 to -20C for many more days than that (some places would be far colder than that). Winter boots are worn from November to end of March in Montreal.

But basically, what I'm trying to say is that nowhere is perfect. You'll be sorely disappointed in Canada, and pretty much everywhere else, I'm afraid. =/

 

Canada will go down the hill like all the other countries if Harper does not get down...

Canada has so many freedoms because of decentralized gouvernment.

 

I guess we can conclude that people yearn for things they do not have, and often paint other places in an unrealistically positive light, while exaggerating the flaws of their own.

To the OP - if you do leave, stick to Europe. You have freedom of movement and can live and work anywhere, regardless of your skills. It's much harder to move to the US, Canada or Australia - in fact, I wouldn't waste your time, unless you are employed in a skill in demand.

 

Actually, I've lived in both Canada and Sweden, have both a Canadian and a Swedish citizenship and can therefore make an honest interpretation, and Canada is so much better. People are more friendly, that's a fact. In Sweden, people are too shy to even say "excuse me" when I'm blocking their way and they're in a hurry, so they push me aside to get out of their way. Swedish people are really quiet and reserved and if he's a social, happy person, he won't make a lot of friends. Walk down the street and smile at someone and they'll consider you a nutter, not a friendly person. It is cold, it snows for 4-5 months, but Canada is even colder. It is claustrophobic. It has really few malls, and nothing really extraordinary. It's cool if you're a tourist for a week, but really, Sweden cannot offer you something that other countries can't.

Canada is more accepting (the only part where Sweden might be slightly accepting is towards immigrants and (and this is quite good) towards LGBT people but it's obviously a big difference between Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm and their acceptance), it's bigger, the advanced economy is one of the largest in the world. It's ranks among the highest in measurements of education, quality of life, and economic freedom. The Swedish taxes are one of the highest in the world, some people even pay as much as 70% in taxes (not saying everyone do, but there are reported cases), not to talk about the alcohol monopoly (Systembolaget). I don't really see what's so great about Sweden, it's truly a dull country where we don't even have as simple things as Asda or Walmart, and it's really hard to even go and buy something as basic as food after 9-10 p.m, as everything is closed.

Why anybody would want to come here and actually live here (apart from humanitarian reasons) is beyond me.

 

Europe is in fact harder to live in than Australia, though. Employment is much harder to gain and is generally only going to be similarly difficult in somewhere like Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, or Perth. Immigration laws are stringent, but life is generally better than in Europe or South America, although there are some sacrifices. Depending on which country, the difference in society may be a big surprise. Although it's difficult to get a job in Australia or Canada, try telling the horde of unemployed young Spaniards that it's better to stay in Europe even if you have the ability to leave.

Make what choice you think is right, but remember that there's often no returning to a previous situation once you've dived into the deep end; emigration is a serious step that requires a lot of thought and preparation. You don't want to be stuck undocumented, underpaid, and at the whim of an employer in some industrial port in North Queensland, which is a terrifyingly likely thing to happen to unprepared immigrants.

 

Internet censorship is not a big problem in Australia. The only problems in that respect are strong copy-right laws. It's not a major consideration for Australia; the censorship is generally minimal and won't be likely to hinder life in any way.

 

I heard Taiwan is very nice place for gay people. Very democratic, they have great internet reliability and they even have a bill in place for same-sex marriage and if approved will put them in place for being the first east asian country to do so. Being a small country also makes them a nice secluded haven. Very low crime rate also

 

I wouldn't rule out the U.S based on the fact the world loves to hate the U.S.

It's actually a pretty decent place depending on where you go, and you don't have to eat the crappy food. You have to remember this is a country that loves freedom, especially corporate freedom, therefore you are going to encounter low quality crap everywhere, and also high quality crap everywhere because people are able to produce what they want there. You have to remember there are going to be more interesting news stories coming out of that country because they have over 300,000,000 people. So crazy shit is bound to happen everyday, doesn't make the entire place a hell hole.

Do not move to Toronto, it's been 4 1/2 months of pure bullshit snow and cold in your face freezing your balls off.

And then in the summer it's going to be 3 1/2 months of stiffling can't breath humidity.

Southern Ontario gets the shit end of two different sticks when it comes to weather.

 

Also we pay a lot more than the States for everything and our internet/general wireless service rates are kind of insane. Our regulations around stuff that can go into food/cosmetics (etc.) is (marginally) better than the States, but definitely not on par with Europe and Australia. Our healthcare is okay but expect long waiting room times and long waits to see specialists. We're not socialists but we're definitely far more liberal than the States. My law teacher said that here, our conservatives are relatively liberal and in the states, their liberals are pretty much our conservatives, and while the picture I've gotten of US politics seems to reflect that opinion I could be wrong there. There's a lot to appreciate about Canada for sure, but we're not perfect.

No mandatory military service, though!

I live near Toronto and this winter has been very unusually cold, actually. Normally where I am, we don't get too much cold (at least compared to most of the rest of Canada, everything north of us and the prairie states get the cold way worse) and we don't get this kind of snow pile-up. But if you move to Toronto, you'll have to deal with Rob Ford's shenanigans, at least for a while until elections come around. Our summers are usually 20 celsius or so but the humidity IS pretty unpleasant, admittedly, and that can push the temperature way up, or make it seem much hotter. The last few summers have been nasty, but if you'll consider Australia you can deal with out summers. We're nothing compared to an Aussie summer.

Vancouver is BEAUTIFUL! HUGE trees, lots of wildlife, and the temperature is usually considered fairly moderate. Its considered by some to be "the place where everyone from Ontario who can afford it lives". My grandma used to live out on Vancouver Island and we'd visit her lots. I'd like to live there when I'm older, I really love the environment out there.

 

Yes Vancouver is temperate, however they don't get a lot of sunshine. Unfortunately Southern Ontario is pretty cloudy, however we do get more than the west coast. Sunshine is almost more valuable then warm weather, at least to me, I hate overcast.

For Canada the only place I'd recommend if you don't mind lack of opportunity is the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, they have by far the best weather Canada has to offer, it's hot in the summer but not humid, sunny year round, relatively dry, and has warm to mild winters. It's also set in one of the best looking places in Canada in a valley in the interior of the rocky mountains.

It is remote though, so as far as big cities go I'd recommend Vancouver.

It also does depend on what you can handle, but I honestly wouldn't feel good telling anyone from a place warmer than Toronto to move here, because the winters can be partially depressing if you don't go out much. And this winter was a testament to how ridiculous the cold can be. There was over 30 days of -20 and below weather. An ice storm that knocked my power out for over 5 days, and non-stop snow.

It's ok for me to handle because I am used to it, but choosing a place to live is a decision that requires looking at everything, and to me the weather is one of the number one factors.

The U.S has a lot of areas that geographically are good places to live, but socially they don't match, so it is hard to find places that meet both demands. Which is why I really don't have any plans to move out of Canada, but if I was to recommend anyone to move anywhere in Canada, it wouldn't be Southern Ontario, to Quebec. Though that's where most of the economic opportunity is in terms of diversity. People can argue Alberta is a good place to get a job, but it really is dominated by a single industry which makes it an unbalanced place.

Most financial, industrial, media, I.T, manufacturing, and all other genres of jobs can be found in Southern Ontario and Southern Quebec. There are little slices of it everywhere else especially Alberta and B.C, and since those two hold better weather Southern Alberta and Southern B.C than the rest of Canada, I'd recommend them.