CHOICES: CANNES, LONDON, ZURICH, LJUBLJANA, SINGAPORE OR L.A.
Contemplating retirement provokes the need for a decision about where best to be based. I am fortunate to have spend my years between London, Paris, Venice, Zurich, Ljubljana, Singapore and LA.
So, of course, it is obviously logical that my significant other and I are considering Cannes – that well know central hub of Europe.
There are a few people around me who are very curious about how this has made my shortlist. To be precise, one person particular was completely baffled, she attacked my choice, having doubts about Cannes, who tried to encourage me to compare and contrast these four locations Cannes/London/Zurich/Ljubljana excluding Singapore and LA.
There is no secret that I am quite fed-up and tired of negativity about the dreadful state of the UK, the lack of control over immigration, the rise of minority groups, the increasing social unrest and rising crime.
But my mood at the moment is to walk away to somewhere calmer and more peaceful.
On other hand the person who tried to encourage me to compare and contrast at least four location Cannes/Zurich/Ljubljana/London has some doubts about Cannes being the "Paradiso" that I imagine and I know. She believes France has equally the same challenges, if not more, than the UK. She considers it an interesting debate (her words); while I don’t, I see it as an argument.
I am not the type of person who wants to be engage with whatever arguments. I much prefer to be surrounded by sycophants who has no desire to challenge my thinking and ideas where about I should or not retire and why.
She presented even the table (below) to make her point:
| CANNES FRANCE | LONDON UK | ZURICH CH | LJUBLJANA SLO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current size of national debt [1] | 113% | 95.9% | 37.6% | 67% |
| Average life expectancy [2] | 83.33 | 81.3 | 83.59 | 81.6 |
| Percantage of unemployment [3] | 7.5% | 4.7% | 2.8% | 4.5% |
| Illegal immigration [4] | 1.2 million | 950k | 100k | 10k |
| IMF real GDP growth [5] | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1.8% |
| Religious Communities [6] | ||||
| a) Christian | 81.4% | 56.2% | 69.2% | |
| b) Muslim | 3.3% | 4.4% | 2.7% | |
| c) Atheist | 22.8% | 11.8% | 16.5% | |
| Homicide per 100,000 [7] | 1.3 | 0.99 | 0.6 | 0.61 |
| Average Tax burden [8] | 45% | 45% | 40% | 50% |
| Population density [9] | 3800 per km2 | 5782 per km2 | 4717 per m2 | 1082 per km2 |
| (Paris 20,909/km2) |
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/government-debt-to-gdp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/unemployment-rate
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/percentage-of-illegal-immigrants-by-country
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_European_Union
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268504/homicide-rate-europe-country/?srsltid=AfmBOoqoD9pDy1T8iycXr8Ydv4xIwg4Wgv1mvkUVDEMEML939t96cT9p
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/personal-income-tax-rate?continent=europe
Well, the data above, taken from Wikipedia is not entirely accurate.
My significant other is a top-class journalist and broadcaster working for the Sky News; she is standing firmly next to me that Cannes is not bad idea despite any controversies. I asked her to get me the accurate and up to date figures to comparison to the data above. This was not a difficult hob as all the data is available to her. The revised version of the table follows (all data 2024):
| CANNES FRANCE | LONDON UK | ZURICH CH | LJUBLJANA SLO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current size of national debt [1] | 88.8% (Cannes) | 102.3% | 38.1% | 58.8% |
| Average life expectancy [2] | 80.4 (Cannes) | 81.3 | 83.6 | 83.3% |
| Percantage of unemployment [3] | 9.1% (Cannes) | 4.7% | 2.8% | 3.0% |
| Illegal immigration [4] | FR = 1.4 million | UK = 950k | CH = 100k | SLO = 267 |
| IMF real GDP growth [5] | 1.4% (Cannes) | 1.1% | 0.9% | 2.0% |
| Religious Communities [6] | For Cannes only | For London only | For Zurich only | For Ljubljana only |
| a) Christian | 60.1% | 44.3% | 76% | 83.8% |
| b) Muslim | 20.1% | 24.5% | 21.3% | 1.9% |
| c) Other religions | 9.6% | 11.8% | 1.7% | 3.8% |
| d) Not known | 10.2% | 19.4% | 1.0% | 0.5% |
| Homicide per 100,000 [7] | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.61 | 0.58 |
| Average tax burden [8] | 45% | 40% | 50% | 42% |
| Population density [9] | 3808 per km2 | 5616 per km2 | 996 per km2 | 894 per km2 |
| (Paris 24,712 per km2) |
All data by SKY News
One very important measurement for everyone is, without any doubt, the safety. Crime statistic for Cannes are not favourable. There has been a significant increase in crime, with 7,224 crimes and delicts reported in 2024, resulting in a 97.6% rate per 1,000 inhabitants. This places Cannes at the rank among the most dangerous cities in France. The city's crime statistics are based on perceptions of visitors and residents, with a score of 72 out of 100 for safety in 2025. While daytime safety is generally high, caution is advised at night due to the risk of scams and other crime.
Comparing the above figures with the those obtained from Europol and Interpol's data for Cannes produces an even more unfavourable picture, as there are a significant number of non-reported or not documented crimes which came to light from criminals arrested and apprehended for other crimes elsewhere around the Europe and worldwide.
The table below about Crime rates in Cannes France which is available on the internet not to be used and compared for realistic view of crimes and safety in Cannes which based on "10 entries".
Data above by Nombus.
Interesting is also a view on prisons and prisoners comparison between these 4 countries (open link).
Mind you, it was not a huge brain strain for me and my significant other where to choose where to be based - indeed apart from the weather, the water sports, tennis court, swimming pool and enough bedrooms not much else was considered apart still to be in contact with the other people or others things which matter to us. In my lens is that I am about to retire from all my activities and if I am needed, it will not be a problem to get here or go there in a reasonable timely manner.
I am still enjoying sailing, windsurfing, tennis, ... and all this is on my doorsteps in Cannes. I can be on a sailboat in a marine harbour or jump on a helicopter in a private airport in less than half an hour. The tennis court and swimming pool are included with the property I intend to get for my family and me. There is nothing else I need for my retirement then to have around me my family, my friends (time to time - not too often) and my loyal dog.
We were looking for proper property for over 8 months - we rolled the dice - there is a property in Cannes which is the one and only we would like to have and really the rest doesn't matter.
We were fortunate to get in touch with a nice gentleman from the property agency there, who also made introductions for us with the notary office he trusts. What can go wrong? Not much, he is professional, he knows his job, he appreciates the notary office otherwise he would not do the introductions for us, all requested from our end supplied, so everybody Happy Christmas!
Ps:
Once we get this deal done and dusted I will name below the agency and the notary office about our good experience and treatment we received.
