Which three European countries you find most respectable at present time?
October 12, 2025
Also add where are you from?
21 comments
Finland, Denmark and Estonia for their stance regarding Russia. There are more countries I could add to that list, but these three stand out to me.
Honestly spains the only major European country I don’t hear negative stuff about. Only time I hear anything at all is when some of our nations elite fall off a balcony drunk
Denmark and Ireland too
No idea on how you define respectable, but for me: Iceland, Finland and Norway
Most of Europe is pretty lit, as my child would say!
From Wales
Ireland is pretty awesome. People there are extremely kind and life moves at a different pace.
After that… Iceland? Norway?
To be honest I think most of Europe is very respectable. Happy to have you all as extended neighbors and I do feel a sense of unity as Europeans despite our individual cultural differences.
-from the Netherlands
Right this second – Spain, Denmark, Norway; but there are so many it could change tomorrow – Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Sweden, Greece, San Marino, Andorra, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales, Slovenia, Vatican, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Croatia, Switzerland, and a few more.
From Ireland.
I am from Germany, with Bosnian roots.
It really depends from what point of view we look at them.
Most European countries are in big political and/or economic turbulences.
France can’t get a stable government and faces a only-rising deficit problem.
Spain has a nice foreign policy, and they have economic growth, but it doesn’t seem to kickstart personal financial situations (yet).
Scandinavian countries all have basically right populist governments now.
The United Kingdom still doesn’t seem able to recover from it’s post-Brexit economic shock.
For Italy, i’d argue that they have surprised me positively only for their government not being as bad as expected. I guess always having politicians not doing what they promise is sometimes a good thing.
I can’t comment anything on Baltic states as i don’t know enough about them.
Maybe Poland isn’t bad, but the issue is, nobody knows how long their current government will actually last. I admire their economic growth, but well, they are basically only one election away from becoming a EU blocader again. The rest of the central euroepan EU… well, look at the election results.
Romania seems to be on a good way, but it’s still a long one. Bulgaria seems stagnating still.
I like Slovenia, their foreign policy is really cool, they combine economic development (they are keeping out-pacing even some old EU member states) whilst not getting into right-conservative rhetorics.
Regarding Benelux, Luxemburg is not that much on the news, Netherlands has become a political shitshow, Belgium for once seems very nice.
The Balkans face the same problems still. Bosnia can’t overcame its problem with separatists, and Serbia under Vucic is everyday closer to becoming a Belarus 2.0 instead of only a cheap copy of Orban’s Hungary. Croatia, for some reason, seems regressing (although their economy is doing ok) since they entered EU. I always saw them as this respectable country in our neighbourship, but… well… the scandals they are having really kinda hurt their reputation.
Germany, it’s still the most politically stable among the big ones. Economically we seem to regress though, since the Ukraine war the basis fundaments upon which our system stands seem to dissapear one after another (“Russia supplies us with cheap energy, China buys our cars and America protects us”), still better than other big EU countries though. At least for now, i hope we can get back on our feet.
So… i guess my verdict would be: Belgium, Slovenia and Germany, but my country only because it seems to be still the least bad one, not the best among the “big” nations.
hard to define respectable but I’ll go with
Denmark, Finland, Norway
it seems like things actually work there
No coutry is inherently good or bad and things can change quickly in either direction. But if I had to choose, Finland, Slovenia…and maybe Denmark.
They all seem to be genuinelly well-run, with low corruption and high trust in institutions and generally do things right for their citizens and environment.
* Ukraine for standing up to Russia’s relentless attacks.
* The Netherlands for the passion for good infrastructure.
* Switzerland for being overwhelmingly beautiful.
Well of course it is MINE country and random_respectable_country.no1 and random_respectable_country.no2
Finland – for revising its foreign policy and joining NATO while simultaneously sharing a long land border with the Russian Federation.
Estonia – for it’s technological development over the years and staunch Russo-realist policies (notice how I did not say Russophobic)
Denmark – based on what I read and hear, it’s an example for many for how a country can be very well run for so many years.
I live in Poland (born in Poland, grew up in the U.S., am a dual-national, moved back to Poland to finish high school, went to univeristy in the UK, returned to Poland after 3 years after graduating in the UK and have been living in Warsaw ever since – it was 13 years ago this May).
What we see as respectable is ofc more or less subjective. So I’ll just go with a set of countries I look at positively based on current-ish developments.
Estonia – to start, our neighbours in the south are unfathomably based with their consistent Russia policy. I hold immense respect also to the way they’ve turned things around after being fucked over by the occupation. Contemporary Estonia really is a success story.
Poland – a controversial pick for sure. The conservative and anti-Ukraine sentiment brewing really concerns me, but as it stands, I look at Poland as an example in terms of good security policy. Tusk really seems to be working for his paycheck to steer Poland to the right direction.
Denmark – their shit seems to be way more together than, say, Sweden or Finland. Their economy is doing great and as far as I know they’re not headed towards any kind of imminent disaster. So I’d say they’re respectable in the sense that they’re boring and their stuff works as it should.
Ukraine obviously. Hold on, you guys.
Also, as a Polish person, I feel connection to everyone who takes some action against the Russian shitshow – thanks to every country that is now helping patroling our airspace and strenghtening the Eastern Flank.
Andorra 🇦🇩, Monaco 🇲🇨, Liechtenstein 🇱🇮, they stay out of the spotlight enjoying their peace and quiet.
To be honest I feel like we’re all going to name a few Countries we’ve never been to or been there once on Vacation because it seemed nice and/or you’ve heard many hearsay and old clichés about how peaceful and perfect it is in this or that Country (especially Scandinavia) but it’s just going to be a bad case of “the grass looks greener on the other side”.
All European Countries are struggling with common issues like Housing Crisis and Real Estates Crisis and then have their own unique personnal crisis going on, either Unemployment, Immigration, Corruption, Government Instability, Rising Criminality etc…
Because judging from the comments, there’s problems everywhere, we just hope and think it’s less of an issue elsewhere, but the people living there clearly have another opinion on the subject 😬
I most respect countries that provide the highest quality of life for their citizens.
Lists of countries in the world that offer the highest quality of life usually include Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Austria, and Germany.
Norway, we might as well still be the twin kingdoms.
The two others would probably be Iceland and Finland,
– Ukraine, because it is fighting alone in a war we should all be fighting in.
– Estonia, because it has done the most to improve its situation after the Soviet era, actually surpassing most countries that were never in the Soviet Union in most aspects, including education.
– Finland, because it is one of the most functional countries in Europe, the most EU-integrated northern country (as in the one that has the fewest special exceptions) and it is an important player in our defence against Russia for good measure.
Denmark (due to their immigration policy, which is quite effective)
Netherlands (due to the great urban planning and a centrist approach to everything)
Poland (due to economic growth since Brexit).
In general, I find Eastern European countries to be quite safe due to a no-bullshit attitude towards policing in their cities.
EASILY Slovenia, they may be small, but their heart is in the right place. They’re always a hundred steps ahead of their neighbors in terms of moral advancements and it’s seriously impressive. They had the biggest post-Cold War glow-up.
Finland, because they’re the country of metal enthusiasts, they have a great quality of life, and they’re basically the Rebels to Russia’s Empire.
I didn’t have a specific third country in mind, but Estonia, Ukraine or Italy could take the spot.
Ukraine
They’re fighting for *all* of us right now, for the respect of settled international borders and for the self-determination of a state.
21 comments
Finland, Denmark and Estonia for their stance regarding Russia. There are more countries I could add to that list, but these three stand out to me.
Honestly spains the only major European country I don’t hear negative stuff about. Only time I hear anything at all is when some of our nations elite fall off a balcony drunk
Denmark and Ireland too
No idea on how you define respectable, but for me: Iceland, Finland and Norway
Most of Europe is pretty lit, as my child would say!
From Wales
Ireland is pretty awesome. People there are extremely kind and life moves at a different pace.
After that… Iceland? Norway?
To be honest I think most of Europe is very respectable. Happy to have you all as extended neighbors and I do feel a sense of unity as Europeans despite our individual cultural differences.
-from the Netherlands
Right this second – Spain, Denmark, Norway; but there are so many it could change tomorrow – Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Sweden, Greece, San Marino, Andorra, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales, Slovenia, Vatican, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Croatia, Switzerland, and a few more.
From Ireland.
I am from Germany, with Bosnian roots.
It really depends from what point of view we look at them.
Most European countries are in big political and/or economic turbulences.
France can’t get a stable government and faces a only-rising deficit problem.
Spain has a nice foreign policy, and they have economic growth, but it doesn’t seem to kickstart personal financial situations (yet).
Scandinavian countries all have basically right populist governments now.
The United Kingdom still doesn’t seem able to recover from it’s post-Brexit economic shock.
For Italy, i’d argue that they have surprised me positively only for their government not being as bad as expected. I guess always having politicians not doing what they promise is sometimes a good thing.
I can’t comment anything on Baltic states as i don’t know enough about them.
Maybe Poland isn’t bad, but the issue is, nobody knows how long their current government will actually last. I admire their economic growth, but well, they are basically only one election away from becoming a EU blocader again. The rest of the central euroepan EU… well, look at the election results.
Romania seems to be on a good way, but it’s still a long one. Bulgaria seems stagnating still.
I like Slovenia, their foreign policy is really cool, they combine economic development (they are keeping out-pacing even some old EU member states) whilst not getting into right-conservative rhetorics.
Regarding Benelux, Luxemburg is not that much on the news, Netherlands has become a political shitshow, Belgium for once seems very nice.
The Balkans face the same problems still. Bosnia can’t overcame its problem with separatists, and Serbia under Vucic is everyday closer to becoming a Belarus 2.0 instead of only a cheap copy of Orban’s Hungary. Croatia, for some reason, seems regressing (although their economy is doing ok) since they entered EU. I always saw them as this respectable country in our neighbourship, but… well… the scandals they are having really kinda hurt their reputation.
Germany, it’s still the most politically stable among the big ones. Economically we seem to regress though, since the Ukraine war the basis fundaments upon which our system stands seem to dissapear one after another (“Russia supplies us with cheap energy, China buys our cars and America protects us”), still better than other big EU countries though. At least for now, i hope we can get back on our feet.
So… i guess my verdict would be: Belgium, Slovenia and Germany, but my country only because it seems to be still the least bad one, not the best among the “big” nations.
hard to define respectable but I’ll go with
Denmark, Finland, Norway
it seems like things actually work there
No coutry is inherently good or bad and things can change quickly in either direction. But if I had to choose, Finland, Slovenia…and maybe Denmark.
They all seem to be genuinelly well-run, with low corruption and high trust in institutions and generally do things right for their citizens and environment.
* Ukraine for standing up to Russia’s relentless attacks.
* The Netherlands for the passion for good infrastructure.
* Switzerland for being overwhelmingly beautiful.
Well of course it is MINE country and random_respectable_country.no1 and random_respectable_country.no2
Finland – for revising its foreign policy and joining NATO while simultaneously sharing a long land border with the Russian Federation.
Estonia – for it’s technological development over the years and staunch Russo-realist policies (notice how I did not say Russophobic)
Denmark – based on what I read and hear, it’s an example for many for how a country can be very well run for so many years.
I live in Poland (born in Poland, grew up in the U.S., am a dual-national, moved back to Poland to finish high school, went to univeristy in the UK, returned to Poland after 3 years after graduating in the UK and have been living in Warsaw ever since – it was 13 years ago this May).
What we see as respectable is ofc more or less subjective. So I’ll just go with a set of countries I look at positively based on current-ish developments.
Estonia – to start, our neighbours in the south are unfathomably based with their consistent Russia policy. I hold immense respect also to the way they’ve turned things around after being fucked over by the occupation. Contemporary Estonia really is a success story.
Poland – a controversial pick for sure. The conservative and anti-Ukraine sentiment brewing really concerns me, but as it stands, I look at Poland as an example in terms of good security policy. Tusk really seems to be working for his paycheck to steer Poland to the right direction.
Denmark – their shit seems to be way more together than, say, Sweden or Finland. Their economy is doing great and as far as I know they’re not headed towards any kind of imminent disaster. So I’d say they’re respectable in the sense that they’re boring and their stuff works as it should.
Ukraine obviously. Hold on, you guys.
Also, as a Polish person, I feel connection to everyone who takes some action against the Russian shitshow – thanks to every country that is now helping patroling our airspace and strenghtening the Eastern Flank.
Andorra 🇦🇩, Monaco 🇲🇨, Liechtenstein 🇱🇮, they stay out of the spotlight enjoying their peace and quiet.
To be honest I feel like we’re all going to name a few Countries we’ve never been to or been there once on Vacation because it seemed nice and/or you’ve heard many hearsay and old clichés about how peaceful and perfect it is in this or that Country (especially Scandinavia) but it’s just going to be a bad case of “the grass looks greener on the other side”.
All European Countries are struggling with common issues like Housing Crisis and Real Estates Crisis and then have their own unique personnal crisis going on, either Unemployment, Immigration, Corruption, Government Instability, Rising Criminality etc…
Because judging from the comments, there’s problems everywhere, we just hope and think it’s less of an issue elsewhere, but the people living there clearly have another opinion on the subject 😬
I most respect countries that provide the highest quality of life for their citizens.
Lists of countries in the world that offer the highest quality of life usually include Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Austria, and Germany.
Norway, we might as well still be the twin kingdoms.
The two others would probably be Iceland and Finland,
– Ukraine, because it is fighting alone in a war we should all be fighting in.
– Estonia, because it has done the most to improve its situation after the Soviet era, actually surpassing most countries that were never in the Soviet Union in most aspects, including education.
– Finland, because it is one of the most functional countries in Europe, the most EU-integrated northern country (as in the one that has the fewest special exceptions) and it is an important player in our defence against Russia for good measure.
Denmark (due to their immigration policy, which is quite effective)
Netherlands (due to the great urban planning and a centrist approach to everything)
Poland (due to economic growth since Brexit).
In general, I find Eastern European countries to be quite safe due to a no-bullshit attitude towards policing in their cities.
EASILY Slovenia, they may be small, but their heart is in the right place. They’re always a hundred steps ahead of their neighbors in terms of moral advancements and it’s seriously impressive. They had the biggest post-Cold War glow-up.
Finland, because they’re the country of metal enthusiasts, they have a great quality of life, and they’re basically the Rebels to Russia’s Empire.
I didn’t have a specific third country in mind, but Estonia, Ukraine or Italy could take the spot.
Ukraine
They’re fighting for *all* of us right now, for the respect of settled international borders and for the self-determination of a state.