The Aging Gracefully Index: where should you live when you retire?

The UK ranked 23rd, being beaten by countries including: Turkey, Czechia and Austria
Scores were determined across 7 factors, including the balance between old and young, how many over 65s emigrated from there, the quality of healthcare & safety, life expectancy, and life satisfaction.
Iceland ranked top as the best country for retirees

ConfidenceClub, a company with more than a little stake in seniors’ well-being, has released a study identifying the best cities across the globe for retirees.

The study looked at factors to rank countries and cities on their ability to support a fulfilling, secure, and healthy retirement.

How did the UK rank compared to other cities?

The UK was near the bottom of the list when it came to accommodating cities for retirees. The data showed the UK ranked 23rd out of 38 countries analysed. The UK performed poorly across Elder Balance score, which looks at the ratio of ageing population compared against old-age dependency from the OECD. A higher ratio suggests a greater burden on the working-age population to support the elderly, impacting everything from healthcare to pension systems. The UK also had one of the highest rates for over 65s emigrating at 1.1%. The UK also ranked around the middle range for safety and life expectancy.

Who were the winning countries?

The nation of Iceland scored top marks in this study, thanks to a perfect score in both life expectancy and life satisfaction.

You can view the full breakdown here: https://confidenceclub.co.uk/blogs/news/cities-that-enhance-quality-of-life-for-retirees

Rank	Country	Total Score	Elder Balance	Emigration	Healthcare	Safety	Life Expectancy	Life Satisfaction
1	Iceland	87	25.5	0.48%	68	75.8	82.68	7.6
2	Israel	85	23.1	0.11%	73.8	73.7	82.26	7.2
3	Finland	83	41.5	0.81%	80	75.4	82.04	7.9
3	Netherlands	83	34.7	0.84%	79.5	75.2	81.69	7.5
3	Switzerland	83	31.8	0.61%	70.4	73.5	83.99	7.5
3	Luxembourg	83	23.5	1.04%	78.2	70.9	82.63	7.4
7	Denmark	82	35.6	0.60%	76.3	74.2	81.38	7.5
7	Australia	82	28.6	0.10%	70.1	63.7	84.53	7.1
9	Norway	80	31.3	0.53%	78.1	66.4	83.23	7.3
10	South Korea	77	26.3	0.14%	83.1	75.6	83.7	5.8
Comparison	UK	60	33.2	1.10%	74.8	50	80.74	6.8

Who were the winning cities?

When specific cities were analysed, Reykjavik was the Icelandic city to win this round.

The Hague (Netherlands) and Tel Aviv (Israel) came a joint second, rounding off the top three cities for retiring in.

Rank	City	Country	Total Score
1	Reykjavik	Iceland	87
2	The Hague	Netherlands	85
2	Tel Aviv	Israel	85
4	Geneva	Switzerland	83
4	Helsinki	Finland	83
4	Zurich	Switzerland	83
4	Eindhoven	Netherlands	83
4	Rotterdam	Netherlands	83
4	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	83
4	Canberra	Australia	83
4	Adelaide	Australia	83
4	Sydney	Australia	83

You can view the full breakdown here: https://confidenceclub.co.uk/blogs/news/cities-that-enhance-quality-of-life-for-retirees

Technology

Legacy to Cloud in 100 Sprints: A Tactical Guide for CTOs in Regulated Industries

By Sam Allcock06/01/2026

Cloud migration has become essential for regulated industries where security, compliance, and nonstop availability are crucial. From finance to healthcare and insurance, legacy systems once built for stability are now being stretched thin by the swift demands of digital transformation. Organizations face a daunting challenge: how to modernize without risking operational downtime or regulatory penalties? At the heart of this transformation is a practical story of steady progress, the journey of Balraj Adhana, a technology leader who pioneered an agile and risk-conscious approach known as “Legacy to Cloud in 100 Sprints.” With over 20 years of experience, Balraj has led the modernization of vital platforms across capital markets, insurance, and healthcare domains. His approach was not about big leaps but about breaking down the complex multi-year cloud migration into 100 manageable sprints. Sprinting added functional upgrades and provided complete business continuity, even to the most sensitive compliance systems. This method enabled teams to turn single-monolith legacy software into agile microservices, which operate in the cloud and reduce the six-hour critical batch processing windows to fifteen minutes. It has also reduced the costs of cloud infrastructure by up to 45%, signifying financial discipline and technical excellence. His leadership extended beyond technical delivery. He reshaped organizational collaboration by bridging gaps between technology, compliance, and audit teams, creating cross-functional cloud squads that improved onboarding speed by over 60% and sprint velocity by 65%. This cultural shift increased confidence across stakeholders and accelerated delivery without compromising regulatory requirements. The innovator also developed comprehensive internal playbooks, which became standardized guides for modernization projects across multiple industries. His leadership in establishing a Cloud Center of Excellence streamlined governance and tool use, reinforcing consistency in cloud adoption company-wide. One of the expert’s most notable achievements was achieving zero downtime during the phased migration of critical regulatory systems. His team implemented a dual-run strategy, running legacy and cloud systems in parallel for months while an automated engine reconciled all data events in real time. This approach eliminated risk during the transition and safeguarded thousands of compliance analysts working in global markets around the clock. His team also introduced event-driven architecture, turning overnight batch jobs into real-time event streams, boosting efficiency by 96%. These advancements accelerated compliance reporting from a three-day delay to same-day insight, increasing responsiveness to market changes. Cost savings were equally significant. By right-sizing workloads, adopting container orchestration, and eliminating redundant data centers, Balraj’s initiatives achieved $2 million in annual operational savings. Automated deployment pipelines and self-healing workflows reduced manual overhead by 40%, freeing teams to focus on innovation. Compliance adherence also improved dramatically, with full alignment to leading standards maintained throughout migration, a major trust builder with regulators and customers alike. The professional’s work provides useful insights for leaders facing modernization challenges today. He stresses that speed must align with safety, coining the phrase: “True transformation is a steady sprint, not a risky leap.” Instead of viewing compliance as a constraint, he sees it as an engineering discipline embedded from the start. He added,” Legacy systems are repositories of institutional knowledge that should be carefully refactored rather than discarded, preserving business logic while unlocking agility.” Looking ahead, he foresees hybrid and multi-cloud architectures dominating regulated sectors due to data residency and audit requirements. The next wave of modernization revolves around treating data pipelines as control planes, focusing on real-time observability and lineage tracking. Furthermore, AI-driven governance holds great promise, helping detect compliance risks preemptively and automating audit trails. Ultimately, cloud modernization is as much about people and culture as it is about technology, a balance Balraj has mastered with his pioneering 100-sprint approach. This story of transformation shows how complex regulatory IT environments can be modernized sustainably, enabling faster innovation, stronger compliance, and smarter cost management. Balraj Adhana’s model creates a roadmap for enterprises striving to keep pace with digital disruption while safeguarding trust and continuity. For regulated industries, the future belongs to those who blend engineering discipline with regulatory empathy to deliver cloud migration that’s faster, safer, and ready for the challenges ahead.

The Aging Gracefully Index: where should you live when you retire?

How did the UK rank compared to other cities?

Who were the winning countries?

Who were the winning cities?

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