American expat is happier though making less money

When he was 27 years old, Bernard Meyer moved from the U.S. to Lithuania: the world’s happiest country for young people. After over a decade in northeastern Europe, he says earning less money is worth the sacrifice for a much better quality of life.

Meyer, a senior communications and creative director at marketing automation platform Omnisend, settled in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius in 2012 after graduating in 2008 — at the time of the Great Recession.

“I had an option to go back to working at Starbucks after I graduated college or there was another option for me just to take my degree and teach English abroad,” the 39-year-old told CNBC Make It.

Meyer initially took an English teaching job in Mongolia in 2009. Then his brother, who was visiting a friend in Vilnius, invited him to join them. Meyer ended up staying in Vilnius for a number of months and met his Lithuanian girlfriend, who’s now his wife.

What he found in Vilnius was a world apart from his life in the U.S.

“The thing that I see here is just that it’s a slower pace of life, but it’s not a bad slow,” Meyer explained. “Compared to the U.S., people are not so focused on hustling or always pushing themselves to earn more or to talk about politics all the time.”

After completing a teaching contract in Taiwan, he moved back to Vilnius permanently and still lives there with his wife and two daughters.

Many young workers relocate to Lithuania for its beautiful natural scenery and attractive work-life balance. Lithuania recently placed No. 1 as the world’s happiest country for people under 30 years old on the World Happiness Report 2024. It ranked as the No. 19 happiest country in the world overall.

“Ten years ago, I would have said that’s very confusing,” Meyer said, commenting on the ranking. “They had this horrible idiom saying that Lithuanians are happiest when their neighbor’s house is burning.”

At the time, the country was struggling to emerge from a financial crisis that hit Lithuania and its neighbors particularly hard.

Now, though, things are very different, and it’s become a great place for young people to live, according to Meyer. The country has launched several schemes to attract skilled foreign workers including short visa processing times and an arrival allowance of 3,788 euros ($4,170) for foreigners employed under a permanent contract for certain high-value-added roles.

Meyer outlined three major benefits.