No, Asian countries have less of a safety net than the US even. They do have cheaper healthcare and housing. (But after you've bought the housing then you want it to become less cheap, of course.)

I think the general strategy is to build wealth in the US on a US salary and then move to a cheaper COL location elsewhere.

Was in Europe this summer. Even if inflation is comparable or worse everything was still far cheaper than the US.

Tons of people did that before the pandemic and moved to cheap places like Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Now those places are expensive, they are still broke (so the safety net might still go away in your lifetime), but also now the locals are hopping mad that all these 'expats' are coming and driving up real estate prices.

It's more expensive but eating out is nothing like the US. Got 2 euro coffees and croissant combos in Spain all summer. Especially since tipping 20% is not expected.

When I mean by "they are still broke" I meant governments that have to provide the safety nets. And what I meant by "expensive" was more things like real estate prices. Sorry for the confusion.