Our Methodology
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How We Work

The BE Index brings together evidence on LGBTQ+ rights, safety, belonging, healthcare, affordability, and relocation to create a comparable country score. My Matches uses that same research to show which destinations best fit your priorities and household.

the be index

What the BE Score Is

Every country receives one published BE Score from 0–100. It is built from 57 indicators — essentially 57 questions we ask consistently of every country — using laws, court decisions, official statistics, institutional data, and major surveys.
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‍Together, those indicators show the strength of the overall foundation for building a LGBTQ+ life there.

57 indicators · 6 pillars · 10 countries

My Matches

What Your Matches Mean

My Matches starts with the same evidence behind the BE Index, then ranks countries according to how closely that evidence aligns with your priorities and household. You can give more or less emphasis to each of the six pillars, while optional household selections adjust the influence of specific evidence.

‍Your choices can change the order of your matches, but they never change a country’s published BE Score. Leave everything at Important with no household selections, and your results reproduce the published Index order.

The same evidence → personalized to you

What Goes into Our Research?

The BE Index is built from 57 indicators — 57 questions we ask consistently of every country. To answer them, we use different kinds of verifiable evidence: what laws and policies say, what LGBTQ+ people report experiencing in daily life, and what official data tells us about the practical conditions of living and relocating there.

LAWS & POLICY

Example: Is marriage open to same-sex couples?

LIVED EXPERIENCE

Example: Do LGBTQ people avoid holding hands in public?

OFFICIAL DATA & SYSTEMS

Example: How many residence pathways are available?

From 57 Indicators to Six Pillars

Those 57 indicators are organized into six pillars so the research can be understood and compared across countries. Each pillar captures a different part of life abroad — from legal protections and day-to-day safety to healthcare, affordability, and the practical ability to relocate. The percentages below show how much each pillar contributes to the published BE Score.

Legal Protections

25%

Does the law protect you?

Safe Living

20%

How safe is daily life?

Belonging

20%

Will you be accepted?

Healthcare

15%

Can you get the care you need?

Affordability

10%

Can you afford the life?

Relocation Pathways

10%

Can you actually get there?

Why the Pillar Scores Don’t Average to the BE Score

The pillar bars show how a country performs in each area, but the BE Score is not a simple average of those six numbers. Because Belong Elsewhere is designed specifically for LGBTQ+ destination intelligence, Legal Protections, Safe Living, Belonging, and Healthcare together account for 80% of the Index, while the more universal factors of Affordability and Relocation Pathways account for 20%. The same scoring rules are applied consistently to every country to produce its published BE Score.

That is why a country's six pillar score could carry a simple average of 68.5, while its published BE Score is 79.1. The bars show where a country is strong or weak; the BE Score shows how it compares overall.

SIMPLE AVERAGE EXAMPLE

FRANCE
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BE Index v1.2 · August 2026

SIMPLE AVERAGE

68.5

Legal Protections

68.2

Safe Living

50.2

Belonging

58.3

Healthcare

72.9

Affordability

69.5

Relocation Pathways

92.1

ALL PILLARS COUNTED EQUALLY
16.7% each pillar

HOW WE SCORE

FRANCE
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BE Index v1.2 · August 2026

Published BE Score

79.1

Legal Protections

68.2

Safe Living

50.2

Belonging

58.3

Healthcare

72.9

Affordability

69.5

Relocation Pathways

92.1

Published pillar weights + the same scoring method used for every country

Launch Countries

Active Indicators

374

Governed Evidence Records

556

Scored Indicator Records

How We Work

What Goes into Our Research?

From 57 Indicators to Six Pillars

Why the Pillar Scores Don’t Average to the BE Score

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