How ThriveMap scores countries
Every country gets a 0–100 score per dimension, weighted by your priorities into a personal match score. Here is exactly what is measured and where the data comes from.
The nine dimensions
| Dimension | What it measures | Primary sources |
|---|---|---|
| Climate | How well the typical climate matches your temperature and sunshine preferences | National met offices |
| LGBTQ+ legal: orientation | Same-sex partnerships, marriage, adoption, anti-discrimination law | Equaldex, ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map |
| LGBTQ+ legal: gender identity | Legal gender recognition, trans healthcare access, non-binary recognition | ILGA World, TGEU |
| LGBTQ+ social acceptance | How accepted LGBTQ+ people are in daily life; public attitude surveys | Equaldex, Pew Research |
| Racial experience | Reported social comfort and safety for your racial background | US State Dept. Human Rights Reports, ECRI, FRA |
| Safety | Political stability, violent crime, militarisation | World Bank, Global Peace Index |
| Healthcare | Quality of and access to public healthcare | WHO Global Health Observatory |
| Cost / value | Quality of life relative to cost of living | Numbeo, Expatistan |
| Visa / residency | Ease of legally relocating; digital nomad and residency options | Visaguide.world, official immigration portals |
How scores stay up to date
Scores are never just a static snapshot. Three APIs are called live on every visit to the app:
- Equaldex: LGBTQ+ legal rights and social acceptance for all countries, updated continuously as laws change.
- WHO Global Health Observatory: UHC Service Coverage Index, updated annually.
- World Bank: Political Stability and Absence of Violence index, updated annually.
On top of that, automated weekly and yearly jobs refresh the built-in dataset from Equaldex, the Global Peace Index, the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and WHO data. If a live call fails, the app falls back to the built-in dataset and shows which source you are looking at.
Personalisation
You build a profile for one or two people (gender identity, sexual orientation, racial background) and set importance sliders per dimension. Defaults are suggested from your profile. A lesbian couple of colour gets higher default weights on LGBTQ+ and racial dimensions. The weighted result ranks all 77 countries from best to worst fit for you.
Privacy
Everything is computed in your browser. Nothing is saved: your profile and preferences are never stored or sent anywhere. There is no account, no tracking, and the code is open source.
Limitations
Scores are generalisations built on aggregate research. They cannot capture every region, city or individual experience within a country. Racial experience scores in particular reflect reported group-level patterns, not predictions about any individual's life. Treat ThriveMap as a well-sourced starting point for your own research.
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