Expat Insider 2014 Report

8/9/2019 Expat Insider 2014 Report

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http://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2014


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!"#$#%&'%(*+,-& .%$'/#"With the rst issue of our Expat Insiderreport, the annual InterNations survey goto to an excellent start. The idea for ExpatInsider was born out of our successful

expatriate network.

We realized that, with 1.4 million InterNationsmembers across the globe, we have theideal base for nding out what movesexpats around the world: why they relocate,what life abroad is like, and how happythey are.

We have now conducted one of the largestexpat surveys worldwide, with close to14,000 respondents. The results oera wealth of information on dozens ofdestinations information of potential useto both our members and a wider audienceinterested in other countries and cultures,in living and working abroad.

The questionnaire covered demographics,basic facts about relocating, as well as dailylife in the current country of residence. Itfocused particularly on personal satisfaction

with all aspects of living abroad.

Survey respondents include people from allwalks of life. We did not reach only typicalexpats executive assignees but gathereda broad range of answers from those optingfor a life abroad.

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In the general country ranking, our mostpopular destination turns out to be Ecuador,appreciated for the ease of making friendsand the low cost of living. It is followed byLuxembourg, a clear winner for the career-minded, and Mexico, which ranks highlyfor general friendliness and personalhappiness.

Our overall index for 61 destinations isfollowed by several topical rankings:

/ In the Quality of Life Index, Switzerlands

top-notch infrastructure earns the smallAlpine country a well-deserved rst rank.Nigeria, however, occupies the oppositeend of the scale in nearly every respect.

/ Sunny and welcoming Mexico makes it tothe top of our Ease of Settling In Index.Spain and New Zealand receive glowingratings as well.

/ Due to a great work-life balance and abooming economy, Norway emerges asthe winner in the Working Abroad Index.
http://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2014http://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2014


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of common destinations, from Australiaover Singapore to the S.

In contrast to the focus on destinations,our expat typology introduces variouskinds of people: rom the assignee over theglobetrotter to the romantic, these prolesrepresent all possible reasons for packingyour bags and moving abroad.

ifteen nationality reports conclude theanalysis. Did you know that elgians are

the most polyglot expats Or that rits aremore likely to stay abroad forever than anyother nationality

ou are invited to see the world anewthrough expat eyes. Explore and enoy

" Scandinavia scores highly in the amilyLife Index as well: Expat families feel mostat home in Denmark and Sweden. Someof the ulf Arab States, though, are ratherunpopular among parents.

" Expats are most satised with theirmonetary situation in Ecuador, whichcomes rst in both our ersonal inanceIndex and the reverse ost of LivingIndex. oreign nationals living in Italyand reece, however, seem to have been

aected by the Eurozone crisis.In-depth articles on related highlights roundout this section. Issues covered in greaterdetail include, amongst others,

" the phenomenon of the expat bubble,most noticeable in the Middle East

" expat children and language skills, with animpressive 6 of kids growing up bi- ormultilingually

" top destinations for the money-savvy,where ietnam or the hilippines come tomind.

We have also added a chapter on romanceand relationships: Though countries likereece or Argentina are among the troublespots for work and nance, they count

among the go-to places for lovebirds.Lastly, we aim to prole both the peoplemoving round the globe and the countriesthey settle in. our ountry through ExpatEyes visualizes how expat residents seetheir local neighbors and their new home.0 country reports provide succinct proles

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The Expat Insider Survey 014 wasconducted by InterNations, with conceptualinput, support, and data analysis providedby the independent market research

company komma mb. 1,1 expatriatesrepresenting 16 nationalities and 16countries of residence participated in ouronline survey, which ran from une 10 to

une 0, 014.

To be featured in one of our leaguetables, a sample size of at least 0 surveyparticipants was necessary for a speciccountry. The only exception to this was theamily Life Index, where a sample size of0 respondents was required. owever, inmany countries the sample size exceeded0 or even 100 participants by far.

or the rankings themselves, participantswere asked to rate diverse aspects of lifeabroad on a scale of one to seven, or oneto ve, in some cases. The rating process

included both the respondents personalsatisfaction with these aspects and therelative importance they accorded to them.

The ratings of individual factors were thenbundled in various combinations, and theirmean values used to draw up the topical sub-indices. The latter, as well as the responsesto the one question: how satised are youwith life abroad in general, were averagedin order to arrive at the overall countryranking.

lease be aware that we use roundedpercentages. In some cases, this may lead toall responses to one and the same question

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O#$P98+ ;I$#0)Working Abroad Index BFTop Destinations for Working Abroad BOWho ets elocation Support 43alancing Work and Life Abroad 4B

Q0=9*, K9:( ;I$#0)amily Life Index 4EWhere Expat amilies Thrive 4DThe hild-riendliest ountries F3Education Around the World FB

hilds lay Daycare for Expat ids FFExpat hildren oreign Languages FOWhere arents Dont Take Their ids M2

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Australia OEAustria D2elgium DBrazil DManada DDhina 321rance 32Fermany 32OItaly 333Netherlands 3340'*'& 33ESaudi Arabia 312

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The Quality of Life anking rates over 60countries according to a variety of factorsfrom four dierent areas: leisure, travel andtransportation, health and safety, as well aspersonal happiness.

The latter mostly refers to individualcontentment with the new life abroadtherefore its the one factor with the leastdirect connection to the participantscountry of residence. owever, as it isindicative of respondents general well-being, it has been included here.

To be featured in the ranking, any countryrequires a sample size of 0 expatriates:They were asked to evaluate relevantfactors on a scale of one to seven. Morethan 0 countries in that list even have asample size of 100 respondents or more.

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Switzerland is a clear winner in severalsubcategories. espondents particularlyappreciate what this quiet and stablecountry oers in terms of health and safety. of resident expats rate their personalsafety positively, and as many as 0 even

describe Switzerland as a very safe country.Only apan and Singapore beatthis result.

The quality of medical care garners someequally enthusiastic responses. More than0 of expatriates express a positive

attitude towards the medical servicesavailable. Every other participant is indeedvery satised with local healthcare, nearlytwice as much as the global average .

Travel and transport are a similar highlightof the local infrastructure. Our survey

-8b#,98+ %"( M70*9%,#: K9:( ;I$#0)Switzerland and Austria earn more praise for their quality of life,and despite the Eurozone crisis, Spains sunny charms lack noneof their luster.

Quality of Life


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Ease of Settling In

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The Ease of Settling In Index combinesseveral soft topics such as how welcomeexpats feel in their host country, howfriendly the local population is, how easy itis for expatriates to make new friends, andhow easy and important it is to learn thelocal language. Survey participants wereasked to evaluate these factors on a scaleof one to seven. Each country required asample size of at least 0 survey participantsto be featured in the ranking.

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Mexico ranks rst place overall in the Easeof Settling In Index. In terms of friendliness,this Latin American country clearly takesthe lead: An unrivalled of participantsanswer positively when asked about thegeneral friendliness of the population, and4 agree that the local population has afriendly attitude towards foreign residents.

Our survey respondents are also impressedby the welcome they received in Mexico.our out of ve 0 expats in Mexicofeel at home in the local culture. A similar

number of expats respond that its easy tosettle down in Mexico and get usedto the Mexican culture 6.

Mexico comes in second place for the easeof making friends, whether among locals orexpats. Only Ecuador beats Mexico in thiscategory. Over two-thirds of expats 6nd it easy to make local friends in Mexico.Ecuador only slightly exceeds this resultwith 0.

Mexico ranks a bit lower when it comes tohow easy and important expats think it is

5"( '#1% O(*6#=98+S#78%$9(1Mexico is the friendliest country, Spain welcomes expats withopen arms despite the economic crisis, and New Zealand alsomakes expats feel at home.


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to learn the local language. Luckily, around0 agree that it is easy to learn Spanish, ashalf the survey participants 1 also think

that life in Mexico is dicult for those whocannot speak Spanish.

Only 1, however, say that learning thelocal language poses problems for them.Indeed, around of the respondentsliving in Mexico report having Spanishlanguage skills.

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Expats in Spain particularly value how athome they feel in the country, with giving positive answers. Over one-third answer that they feel completely athome, which was the highest percentagein the survey, and almost double the globalaverage 1.

Although most expats quickly feel at homein Spain, the country only comes in eleventhplace in terms of overall friendliness.Although of expats respond favorablyas regards the general friendliness ofSpaniards, only answered that thelocal population was very friendly towardsforeign residents. This percentage is only

a bit higher than the global average and is topped by 14 other survey countries.

Spain also doesnt rank very favorably inthe ease of making local friends category.Only slightly more than half of thesurvey respondents answer positivelywhen asked if it is easy to make local friendsin Spain. This is only a little higher than theglobal average 4. About one in ten 1expats even nds it quite dicult to makelocal friends.

A maority of expats agree that life inSpain is more dicult if you do not speakSpanish. On the bright side, 1 think it iseasy to learn the local language and ofthe survey participants living in Spain canspeak the local language.

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New Zealand does very well in the riendlinesssub-index, with an impressive 1 of surveyparticipants agreeing that iwis are a friendlybunch. A similar percentage of expats think that iwis have a friendly attitudetowards foreign residents. Apart from ourfront-runner Mexico, only razil ranks higherin terms of friendliness.

Despite the apparent friendliness of theiwis, it can still be quite dicult to makefriends. Less than two-thirds 61 have

been able to nd friends easily in NewZealand, slightly below the global average6. An even lower number of participants would agree that it is easy to makefriends with New Zealanders.

A third of survey participants 0 feelcompletely at home in New Zealand muchhigher than the global average of 1.Making a new home in such a geographicallyisolated country isnt a breeze for everyone,however, as 1 of expats gave a negativeresponse.

Over three-fourths of survey participants6 are pleased with the ease of settlingdown in New Zealand. One in three 0expats found it very easy to get used to thelocal culture, a percentage only exceededby Spain and Ecuador 1 for both.

More than three-fourths of expats in NewZealand agree that learning the locallanguage is easy. This is hardly surprising,though, as a working knowledge of Englishwas necessary to complete our survey.


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Ease of Settling In

In the survey, expats were asked about theircircle of friends does it consist of mostlylocal friends, mostly expat friends, or is it amixed group As far as their expat friendsare concerned, we asked the respondentsto tell us whether most of them come fromtheir own country of origin, from anothercountry, or whether this group is quitevaried as well.

The survey participants could also chooseall the dierent ways they usually meetfriends abroad from a list the possibilities

ranged from through work to at expatevents.

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When we look at their circle of friends,women are more likely to have mostlyexpat friends than men . A slightlyhigher percentage of men 0, however,have mostly local friends when comparedto women 1. About half of both maleand female expats report having a group offriends thats divided fairly evenly betweenlocals and expats.

Men are more likely than women to meettheir friends through work, professionalnetworking, sports, or in their localneighborhood. Women, on the other hand,more frequently make new friends throughother friends, via university, languageclasses or other forms of education, orthrough volunteering or non-prot work.

Several trends emerge when we look atdierent age groups. espondents betweenthe age of 6 and are much more likelyto have mostly expat friends, maybe due to

'0P98+Q$9(8)1 ;I$#0)Older expats are the most likely to make friendsin their local neighborhood. Expats living in the

Middle East mostly meet new people through work.


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the increasing number of people of this agesent abroad by their employer.

With advancing age, expatriates tend tohave more local friends than expat ones.There is even a 10 spike from the 41-0-year age group 1 to those aged 1 andover . This may be due to the highnumber of people in the latter group whoplan to stay in their host country for therest of their lives, for example, after theyretire 46, compared to a global averageof 6.

The older the expats surveyed, the less likelythey were to have friends mostly from theirown country of origin. They instead favorhaving a mixed group of friends. In the 1and above age group, of respondentshave a group of expat friends composedof fairly equal numbers of people fromtheir own country of origin and from othercountries.

nsurprisingly, fewer expats meet theirfriends through educational pursuits asthey get older. Our youngest age group,those and below, are most likely to meetnew people through online networking and

through other friends. Expats from 41-0years of age are the most likely group tomake friends through their children.

Not many expats in the 1 and overgroup make new friends at expat eventsor through sports. They also dont get to

know many new people through onlinenetworking or at work when compared tothe average. They are, however, the mostlikely group to nd new friends in theirlocal neighborhood, with meetingnew people this way, well above the globalaverage of .

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Trends for Dierent Expat Types

Expats who move abroad for love have thehighest percentage of mostly local friends

, compared to the global average ofust 1. They are also the most likelyto meet friends through their partner orspouse , which may also account formany having mostly local friends. Expatswho moved abroad for career reasons oraccompanied their spouse for his or her

ob have the lowest number of mostly localfriends. This could point to the fact thatmany of these people probably remain in

the expat bubble during their stay abroad.

As one would expect, expats who movedabroad for their ob get to know most oftheir friends through work. The percentageof friends they meet through their partners,volunteering, education, and in the localneighborhood is much lower than the globalaverage. espondents who accompanytheir partners abroad are the most likely tomeet new people through their children.

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Expats living in the Middle East are the most

likely to nd new friends at work. etween-4 of the expats in uwait, Oman,Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the AE listed thisoption among their answers. This might bedue to the lack of social activities outside ofthe workplace in some of these countries.

Survey participants living in these countriesare also less likely to meet new peoplethrough their partner or spouse than the

global average. In uwait and Qatar, forexample, the percentage is only 16. In boththese countries, however, about two outof ve expats and 40, respectivelyhave not brought their spouse or partneralong with them.

Nearly half the expats from two Africannations, Nigeria 4 and enya 40seek out new people through their religiouscommunity in their host country. This is thehighest result in the survey and well abovethe global average of .


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In this article, well take a look at somedestinations where expats either havelots of local friends or very few. Then wellexamine possible explanations for theseresults.

or some countries it is relatively easy toexplain the existence or absence of anexpat bubble, while for others the reasonsare less obvious.

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The ten countries where expats have theleast number of local friends are mostlylocated in the Middle East uwait, the AE,Oman, Qatar, ahrain, and Saudi Arabia.This list also includes somewhat moresurprising results like Luxembourg, as wellas typical expat hotspots like Singaporeand ong ong. anama rounds out thetop 10.

A maority of expats in uwait 1 ndit dicult to make local friends, and

even think its very dicult. A similarnumber of expats consider making localfriends in Qatar and Saudi Arabia 4 and, respectively rather hard. Oman 1and ahrain 1 fare much better in thiscategory, though.

One possible reason why not many of oursurvey participants have a high number oflocal friends in these Middle Eastern countriesmay simply be the considerable numberof expats living there. In Saudi Arabia andQatar, a sizeable percentage of respondents

N819)( 08) U7%19)(%"( -./0% Y7II*(Local friends are hard to come by in the Middle East, whereasin South America making local friends is a breeze.

Ease of Settling In


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Our Working Abroad Index exploresdierent factors of professional life. It ratesover 60 countries according to dierentaspects, including ob satisfaction andcareer prospects, satisfaction with workinghours, work-life balance, ob security, andthe state of the local economy.

To be included in this ranking, the countriesrequired a sample size of 0 expatriates.espondents were asked to rate variousfactors based on a scale of one to seven.

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Speaking of Norway, people imagine snow,endless summer days and beautiful fords.ut the country up north is also popular forproviding the right balance between yourprofessional and your private life.

In fact, 1 indicate that they are satisedwith the work-life balance in Norway. Morethan one-third even consider it very good,a result which is only beaten by osta ica4.

The vast maority of expats in Norway is also rather happy with their average-hour work week. Of our participantsin Norway, almost half give the highestpossible rating.

When asked how they would udge thestate of the countrys economy, ofthe participants give a positive answer.In fact, more than two-thirds even rateit very good, a number only exceededby Switzerland 1. Not one surveyparticipant rates Norways economynegatively.

Working Abroad

5#/ L(1%980%9#81:#$ O#$P98+ ;I$#0)Norway, Luxembourg, and ermany are leading in

ob security and satisfaction, as well as work-life balance.ut top career prospects lie elsewhere.


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ut expats are also very happy with theirlevel of ob security. Over one-third 4say they are completely satised with the

ob security they enoy in Norway. Again,only osta ica 0 beats this percentage.

Although Norway ranks very highly for allemployment-related factors, most expatsin Norway do not list their ob as the maininitial reason for their move abroad. Oneout of four expats states love as theirmain motivation and another 14 theirpartners ob or education. One in ten 10

relocated for a better quality of life.

While Norway excels in ob security andwork-life balance, it drops to 1th placewhen it comes to the career factor. With themaority being satised with their ob,1 still udge ob satisfaction negatively.Things look even a touch gloomier when itcomes to career prospects. Despite 6 ofpositive ratings, 1 are dissatised or veryunhappy with the opportunities in Norway.

Somewhat surprisingly, Senegal, SA, andNigeria have made it to the top of the oband areer sub-index. All three receive highpoints for the local career prospects.

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While Norway loses somewhat in terms of

ob satisfaction, Luxembourg has made itto fourth place in our ob and areer sub-index. All in all, 6 of survey participantsare satised with their ob in Luxembourg,and two-thirds rate the career prospects inthe country positively. In fact, nearly two-thirds 64 chose to move to Luxembourgfor ob-related reasons. Nevertheless, 1are not satised with the career prospectsLuxembourg has to oer.

One-third of survey participants inLuxembourg work in nancial services,real estate, or insurance. This matchesLuxembourgs status as a well-knowncenter for banking and nancial services.3

On top of the high ob satisfaction, evenmore people value the tiny countryfor the ob security it provides. In fact, aboutone-third even rate this aspect very good.articipants in Luxembourg also rate thestate of the economy very positively .In fact, there are no negative responses atall.

Luxembourg has made it to number sixin our Work-Life alance sub-category.About three-quarters of all participants are

satised with their working hours and 0even give it the highest rating on the scale.Similarly, 6 appreciate Luxembourg forits work-life balance. ere, only 14 are notsatised with the balance between theirprofessional and personal life.


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In our ob and areer sub-category,ermany doesnt quite make the top ten.Only 64 rate the local career prospects

positively and even consider them tobe quite bad. While the maority 1 issatised with their ob in ermany, 14 stillare not.

Interestingly, 14 originally moved toermany primarily to go to school oruniversity there. Only are currentlystudents, though. With ermanys relativelystrong economy, it makes sense that many

expats would choose to remain and nd aob after completing their studies.

The biggest share of expats in ermany0 work in the IT industry, doublethe global average of 10. iven thepronounced skills shortage in this sector,coupled with a high demand of qualiedpersonnel, this number is hardly surprising.articularly SMEs in ermany have trouble

nding suitable IT specialists.B

urthermore, of our respondents workin manufacturing or consumer goods and in transportation, aviation, warehousing,or logistics.

The results from our Work-Life alance sub-category are rather similar to the ones fromour ob and areer sub-index. While 6

feel they are able to negotiate well betweentheir personal and their professionallife, 16 still give the work-life balance inermany a rather negative rating.

owever, 1 are happy with their weeklyworking hours. Nearly 0 even indicatethat they are very satised with theiraverage -hour work week.

!%$#8+ -6#8#=9(1\ K#V j#I !(67$9%,As a region, the ulf Arab states have themost expats who say that the state of theeconomy is very good. The percentagesrange from 4 Oman to Qatar.The notable exception to this is ahrainonly 14 answer very good where theeconomy and also expat businesses havebeen suering in recent years.4

The results for ob security in the ulf Arabstates paint a dierent picture, however.The number of expats satised with their

ob security ranges from 4-64 in thesecountries. omplete satisfaction with ob

security dips to a low of uwait andonly reaches a high of 6 ahrain.

O(0P($ -6#8#=9(1The countries with the worst rankings inour overall Working Abroad Index are alsoones with high unemployment rates andconsiderably weakened economies.FIn lastplace is reece, preceded by ortugal, Italy,and Argentina. Some of these are Europeancountries hit hard by the 00 globaleconomic crisis. Argentinas economy hasbeen struggling since 011 after a brief

rebound in 00.M

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3

Working Abroad

Whether or not a company oersrelocation support to its expat employeescan determine the overall success of aforeign assignment. owever, due tobudget constraints in recent years, adwindling number of companies still oercomprehensive relocation support.

roviding assistance for spouses andpartners, in the form of language andintercultural training, is also vital to anassignments success. In fact, the inabilityof family members to adapt to life in the

host country is the second most commonreason why expat assignments fail.3

According to our survey, about half ofinternational employees 4 are satisedwith the amount of relocation support theyreceived from their company. Only 6do not think the amount of support was

sucient.

The most common form of support washelp in obtaining a visa, residence permit,andor work permit. Two-thirds of expats

6 got assistance from their employerfor this. A bit less than half the respondents4 had their relocation costs covered.A quarter of expats 4 received helporganizing their move, even if the expenseswerent always covered by the employer.

About a third of expats enoy free

or sponsored healthcare through theiremployer. Another third 1 received

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assistance nding housing and a similarpercentage of respondents wereactually provided with housing through

their company. Only 16 of expats receivedno relocation support at all.

Expat spouses and partners did notreceive much relocation support. Only were provided with language classesor intercultural training and a mere received help in nding a ob or obtaining awork permit.

As one might expect, all of these percentagesincrease for expats who were sent abroadby their employer. The biggest ump is in theinstances where the company paid for therelocation costs up . More expats alsoreceived help with their visas and permits total and had housing provided 40.

Among expats who found their new ob ontheir own, only 1 had their relocation

costs covered by their company and 1received no help at all.

Expats who were recruited by a localemployer received the most support ingetting a visa, residence permit andor

work permit 0. alf of the time 4the company also paid for the relocation

costs.

One quarter 4 of expats living abroadwith children under the age of 1 havechildcare or education costs covered by theiremployer. A further 1 at least received

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The Work-Life alance sub-ranking looksat expats combined satisfaction with theiroverall work-life balance and their averageworking hours.

The ranking is topped by Norway, whichis particularly popular in terms of workinghours, with positive ratings. osta

ica scores highly when it comes to work-life balance, and Denmark is strong in bothcategories.

ut how do expats in these countries dowhen it comes to ob satisfaction and career

prospects Well take a closer look at thesefactors below. Moreover, we will take a lookat the average working hours in Norway,osta ica, and Denmark in relation toworking hours worldwide.

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Norway ranks highly in terms of work-life

balance, with more than 0 giving thecountry a positive rating for this factor.Things also look great for osta ica, whichhas the highest percentage of very satisedexpats worldwide.

Denmark is another top destination forpeople seeking a good balance betweentheir personal and their professional life.Overall, 6 gave the country a positiverating.

owever, does a good work-life balance alsomean that our participants are satised with

their ob in general Not necessarily.

Norway only makes it to 1th place on theob and areer sub-index, despite the factthat of participants are satised with

Working Abroad

Y0*08698+ O#$P08) K9:( ;I$#0)Norway, osta ica, and Denmark enoy great popularityfor their working hours and work-life balance. ow do theycompare to the global average


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their ob there. Still, the country is doingbetter than osta ica th and Denmark4rd. In all three cases, people are less

satised with the career prospects in theircountry of residence than with their ob ingeneral.

owever, the question remains, what isit that inuences the rankings for work-life balance so positively for these threecountries

Lets take a look at some other, non-work

related factors. articipants in Denmark,for example, are particularly satised withfamily life in general. osta ica, on theother hand, is among the top ten countrieswhen it comes to the ease of settling in, andeven among the top ve for friendliness.

Like Denmark, Norway also receives positiveratings for its attitude towards families withchildren and for family life in general

4. owever, the apparent prioritizationof family life and leisure activities in Norwaymay well be directly related to its strictlabor laws, strongly discouraging unpaidovertime and irregular work schedules.3

So does it all boil down to short workinghours in the end

5"( @B3[#7$ O#$P O((PNorway, the most prosperous countryamong the Scandinavian States1, ranks evenbetter when it comes to the participantsoverall satisfaction with their workinghours. All in all, the vast maority gave it apositive rating and 4 are very satisedwith their weekly work hours, the highestpercentage worldwide.

The results for osta ica and Denmarkare similar: 0 of our participants inboth countries rated their working hourspositively. owever, a shorter work weekdoes not automatically account for a happieremployee or vice versa, as our overallresults show. or example, in Luxembourg,which has one of the top global rankingsfor career prospects and ob satisfaction,expats work nearly an average 44 hours

per week.

Still, it is worth noting that the number ofhours people work in these countries is atleast on the lower end. In Denmark, expats

spend . hours per week at work. InNorway, our participants work hoursper week on average and osta ica also

has a -hour work week. At that rate, allthree are far below the global average of 41hours.

According to the OED etter Life IndexB,only few employees work very long hoursin Norway and in Denmark .nfortunately, the index does not includeosta ica in its rating.

O#$P98+ [#7$1 O#$*)V9)(As mentioned above, osta ica, Norway,and Denmark are on the somewhat lowerend of weekly working hours, only underbidby a few other countries, such as Ecuadorwith 4.4 hours.

The country on the opposite end of thescale is Nigeria, where expats spendapproximately 4 hours per week at work.

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In hana its 4. hours and in the AE, oursurvey participants have to dedicate almost46 hours of their time to the ob.

Interestingly, these countries do not do toopoorly when it comes to our participantssatisfaction with their work-life balance andworking hours. In all three cases more thanhalf rate the working hours in their countryof residence positively. At the same time,hana receives 60, Nigeria and the AE positive ratings on work-life balance.

On a global scale, expats between 6 and40 years of age work the most. With closeto hours per week, women work lessthan their male counterparts, who spendapproximately 4 hours per week at work.owever, both are similarly satised withtheir situation, with a little over 60 inpositive ratings both for working hours andwork-life balance.

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4F Q0=9*, K9:( ;I$#0)amily Life Index 4EWhere Expat amilies Thrive 4DThe hild-riendliest ountries F3Education Around the World FBhilds lay Daycare for Expat ids FFExpat hildren oreign Languages FOWhere arents Dont Take Their ids M2


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Our amily Life Index takes a closer look ateducation and childcare, as well as expatfamily life in general. It rates more than 0countries, according to dierent factorssuch as availability, quality, and cost ofchildcare and education, and the quality of

family life in a broader sense.

The latter includes attitudes towardsfamilies with children, childrens health andsafety, their well-being, and the participantspersonal satisfaction with their family life.

To be featured in this ranking, every countryrequired a sample size of 0 expats whowere asked to evaluate these factors on ascale from one to seven.

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egarding availability and aordability ofchildcare and education, Sweden is the clearwinner. Our participants were particularlysatised with the various childcare optionsin the country.

While consider childcare to benumerous and widely available, appreciate it for being easy to aord.urthermore, over 0 are satised withthe availability of education options, and1 appreciate them for their aordability.

Still, Sweden loses somewhat when itcomes to quality of education. Although give the quality of education a positiverating and even consider it very good,the country is only number 14 on the list.Switzerland occupies the highest ranking

amily Life Abroad

O"($( -./0%Q0=9*9(1 5"$9H(Sweden and Denmark rank high for education andfamily life in general. rance is a popular destination for

expat families enoying the oie de vivre.

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There are various factors which inuencethe lives of expat families. hildrens healthand safety, as well as their general well-being, play a signicant role in this and mighteven determine if a family returns to theirhome country prematurely. When we take

a closer look at these two factors, it turnsout that Denmark makes it to the top of thelist for both. Norway is another favorabledestination both for childrens overall well-being, as well as in terms of their health andsafety.

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Occupying rank on our overall amily LifeAbroad index, Denmark is also regarded asthe best destination in terms of childrenshealth and safety. When asked to evaluatetheir country on this aspect, 4 of expatsin Denmark including, but not limited to

expat parents rate the country favorably.owever, Norway and Austria rankhighly as well with and positiveratings respectively, closely followed bySwitzerland and ermany.

ut while these European destinationsseem to oer expats a certain peace ofmind, some countries fall very far behindwhen it comes to childrens health andsafety. Nigeria and razil nd themselves atthe bottom of the table, with 0 and 40negative ratings respectively. The situationlooks comparably grim in enya, India, and

Egypt.

This is not surprising, if we examinethe results for personal safety, as wellas political stability and peacefulness.ersonal safety is considered bad in Nigeria

5"( S"9*)3Q$9(8)*9(1%S#78%$9(1Many European countries, especially the Scandinavianstates, achieve favorable ratings when it comesto childrens health, safety, and general well-being.

amily Life Abroad

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amily Life Abroad

Overall, the highest percentage of expatparents choose an internationalschool for their children. This result isclosely followed by parents who decide tosend their children to a local state school0. About two in ten parents 1 enrolltheir children in local private schools.

Only of parents send their children to anational school, such as a Deutsche Schuleor an cole franaise. omeschooling isan option chosen by ust of the surveyparticipants with school-age children.

Local state schools are chosen most oftenin North America and Europe. In severalSouth American countries, as well as inSouth Africa, the hilippines, and Turkey,local private schools are the most popularoption. In Asia and the Middle East, mostexpat parents prefer to send their childrento international schools.

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our out of the ve top countries in thecategory quality of education are locatedin Europe. Switzerland ranks rst in thiscategory. ere a maority of children

attend local state schools. About onequarter are enrolled in internationalschools.

Singapore, the only non-European countryin the top ve, comes in second place inthis category. ere, more children attendinternational schools 1 than state

schools .

elgium, ermany, and the Netherlandsoccupy the third, fourth, and fth placesfor quality of education. They all have thehighest percentage of children attending

-)760%9#8 ;$#78)%"( O#$*)International schools are the most popular choice in Asiaand the Middle East. Expat parents in North America andEurope prefer local state schools.

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Among our survey participants, expatfamilies are a minority. In fact, most of ourparticipants do not have kids at all.owever, family is an important aspect forexpats and having children brings on wholenew challenges when settling down abroad.Thus, we have asked our participants

how they rate childcare in their countryof residence according to availability andcosts.

urthermore, we have inquired aboutthe types of childcare expats prefer andwhether they received any family-specicsupport from their employer.

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Expats in Sweden, Denmark, the hilippines,

Austria, and Indonesia are most satisedwith the variety, availability, and costs ofchildcare in their country of residence. Localdaycare facilities are very popular in Sweden6, Denmark and Austria 1.

In the hilippines and Indonesia, manychoose to have a nanny take care of theirkids instead. Nannies and other in-housechildcare options are also rather popular inSouth Africa 40 and hile .

In Saudi Arabia, of our surveyparticipants prefer to leave their kids in

the responsibility of a parent or otherfamily members. We can assume that thereasons for this lie either in the availabilityor the aordability of childcare, or both.or instance, less than one-third of expat

S"9*)l1 G*0,f L0,60$(:#$ -./0% ]9)1Sweden and Denmark emerge as the favorites of expatparents when it comes to availability and aordability of childcare.Switzerland loses out.

amily Life Abroad

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This section addresses multilingualismamong expat children. Survey participantswere asked various questions about howmany languages their children speak, howmany languages are spoken at home, andhow well their children speak the locallanguages.

Every second expat child 0 is beingraised bilingually. About one-third of them6 are being brought up multilinguallywith three or more languages, and ust14 can only speak one language.

The number of languages a child is beingraised with not only includes thoselanguages children speak with their parentsat home, but also the local languages orother foreign languages they are learning atschool or through other activities.

These gures change when we take a look

at how many languages are actually spokenat home. Among parents living abroadwith their children the number of childrengrowing up in a bilingual household isalmost exactly the same 1. In contrast,over twice as many children 1 only hear

one language spoken at home. A scant twoout of ten expat parents 1 say that theirhousehold is multilingual.

The higher percentages for how manylanguages children are being raised with,opposed to how many they speak at home,may indicate that expat parents are seeking

out opportunities outside the home fortheir children to learn another language.

Depending on their nationality, expatparents have varying opinions on howimportant it is that their children learn

-./0% S"9*)$(8 ZQ#$(9+8 K08+70+(1At school and through other activities, many expat childrenare learning to speak more languages than their parents speakto them at home.

amily Life Abroad

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The expats in our survey were rst asked ifthey have any children under 1. Then wewanted to know if these children are livingwith them in their host country. As it turnsout, almost two in ten expat parents 1are living abroad without their children.

The large maority of these expats are men

4. More of these expats are eithersingle 10 or divorced than thoseexpatriates who brought their childrenabroad with them single and 11divorced.

The top three countries where parents areliving without their children are all locatedin the Middle East the AE, Saudi Arabia,and Qatar. Quite a few of these expats camefor a temporary assignment and decidednot to bring their families with them.

In combination with Qatar and Saudi

Arabias last place rankings in our overallamily Life Abroad index, this does notpaint a favorable picture of expat familylife in the ulf region. The AE did betteroverall 1th out of 4, but came in 0th

out of 4 countries for the cost of childcareand education.

The top ve countries of origin for thisgroup of parents are India 11, thehilippines 10, the , the SA ,and akistan 4.

The top three reasons for relocating are allemployment related. About one quarter4 found a ob on their own, 1 weresent by their employer, and 1 wererecruited by a local company.

O"($( G0$(8%1 L#8l%50P( 5"(9$ ]9)1Almost 0 of the parents surveyed live abroad withouttheir children. Many of these parents, mostly fathers, workin the Middle East.

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Expat ersonal inance

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or our ersonal inance Index, we rankedmore than 60 countries according to ourparticipants personal satisfaction withtheir nancial situation and whether theyconsider their income sucient for theirdaily lives.

Moreover, we asked the respondents torate the cost of living in their country ofresidence from very good to very bad.

nlike other cost of living rankings, suchas the one provided by Mercer, our

index focuses on the participants overallsatisfaction with the cost of living in theircountry. The result is a reverse cost of livingindex, ranking countries with the best costsof living highest. Living expenses werenot considered as a factor in the ersonalinance Index, though.

In order to be included in either index, thecountries required a sample size of at least0 expatriates. They were asked to rateseveral factors based on a scale of one tove or one to seven.

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Ecuador occupies the rst place in ourersonal inance Index. When askedhow satised they are with their nancialsituation, of our participants give thecountry a positive rating. About one-thirdeven deem it very good.

The maority is also rather happy with theirincome. All in all, 4 consider what theyearn to be at least sucient for their dailylife, and 4 even believe that they earnmore than enough.

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Ecuador oers a lot to expats for little money. Nigeria andazakhstan rank poorly in our ost of Living Index, despitenancial stability.

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A vast maority also indicate that they aresatised with their monthly income. All inall, even think they earn rather more

than enough to cover expenses of theirdaily life.

Although their income is sucient,survey participants give the cost of livingin azakhstan only a mediocre rating.The country is number in our ost ofLiving Index. While 4 are satised, evaluate the cost of living in azakhstanrather negatively.

The landlocked country relies heavily onits neighbors for the import of variousconsumer goods.BThis might ust contributeto keeping expenses for daily goods andservices high. urthermore, there is stillroom for improvement in azakhstansinfrastructure, telecommunication, and thesupply and distribution of electricity.4

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Our survey participants were asked howimportant aordable housing is to themwhen rating the quality of life in a particularcountry. Then they were asked to ratethe cost of housing in their host country.When we look at the results, we see a bigdierence in how important expats sayaordable housing is to them and how

aordable housing actually is in their hostcountry.

A full of expats say that aordablehousing is important to them whenthey rate the quality of life in a particular

country. One-third 4 even say that itis very important. Nevertheless, only 1of expats agree that their housing is in factvery aordable and one in three expats are displeased with the amount ofmoney they are spending on housing.

Accommodation is particularly expensive

in ong ong, followed by Singapore,Luxembourg, Qatar, and uwait. Over one-third of expats in ong ong givetheir housing expenses the worst possiblerating. This is no wonder, with an averagethree-bedroom apartment in a central area

renting for D 0,000 approx. SD ,00per month and property selling for aroundD 10,000 approx. SD 1,00 persquare meter.3

Luckily, some expats have their housingprovided by their company in thesecountries with high housing costs. In Qatar,

almost half of all survey respondents 4have the cost of their lodgings covered by

[#=( !V((% [#=(f5"( S#1% #: [#7198+Ecuador oers expats the most aordable accommodation options,while ong ong comes in last with its exorbitant housing prices.

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their employer. In uwait, this number is, in ong ong , and in Singapore1. All but of expats in Luxembourg

have to foot the bill for housing themselves.owever, about one-third 0 at leastreceived help nding housing in thiscountry.

Interestingly, none of these countriesis among the top ve where employersprovide the most housing for their expatemployees. Oman, hana, and azakhstanonly slightly outrank Qatar by -.

Employers in Nigeria, on the other hand,provide housing for almost three-fourths oftheir expat employees , although thisis most likely due to safety reasons.

Looking at the other end of the spectrum,Ecuador has the best rating for theaordable housing available there. Nine inten expats 1 are satised with the costof housing in Ecuador and over half

even say housing is very aordable. Thisresult is unsurprising considering Ecuadorsnumber one ranking for the reverse cost ofLiving Index overall. The next best countriesto move to for their aordable housing areungary, Thailand, Mexico, and Egypt.

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The personal nancial satisfaction amongexpatriates frequently inuences howsatised they are with life in their hostcountry in general. ut which countriesoer the best nancial deal to expatsWell take a closer look at several expatdestinations, the nancial satisfaction

among expat residents, the local cost ofliving, and the expat types who typicallysettle there.

While Ecuador tops both the ersonalinance and the reverse ost of LivingIndex, other countries also rank highlyregarding those factors. The hilippines,ietnam, and Indonesia all receive similarlypositive ratings and are mostly popularamong retirees, as well as those who moveabroad for love or because they simply

enoy living the expat life.

Switzerland is only number on ourost of Living Index but receives lots ofpositive ratings for other nance-relatedfactors. or instance, our participants

are rather satised with their disposableincome and their overall nancial situationin Switzerland. Most expats who move toSwitzerland, however, relocate for theircareer.

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Much like Ecuador, Indonesia, ietnam,and the hilippines receive high ratings forseveral factors, placing them among thetop 10 countries in our ersonal inanceIndex. In Indonesia, 6 of our participantsconsider their disposable income more

5#/ L(1%980%9#81:#$ %"( '#8(,3!0HH,inancial satisfaction is high in the hilippines, ietnam,and Indonesia. Switzerland is a top destination for expatsin high-earning careers.

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than enough to cover daily living expenses.In ietnam 60 and the hilippines ,the results are similarly positive.

Thus, it does not come as a surprisethat the maority of participants in thesecountries is satised with their overallnancial situation. Moreover, 6 of ourparticipants in ietnam and Indonesiaindicate that their income is above the localaverage, while 4 in the hilippines givethe same answer.

The average yearly income in thesecountries, however, is relatively lowcompared to other top destinations in ourersonal inance Index. In ietnam, earn less than SD 0,000 per year, whilethe same applies to in the hilippinesand 44 in Indonesia. More than one-thirdin the hilippines even make less thanSD ,000 per year. On the other hand,ietnam, Indonesia, and the hilippines all

perform rather well when it comes to thecost of living there.

It also transpires that many of our surveyparticipants move to these countries forreasons other than to make a fortune or

kick-start their career.Ecuador and the hilippines are particularlypopular among retirees, with and retiring there respectively. The hilippinesis also a maor destination for hopefulromantics: About one-fth move there tobe with their partner.

ietnam attracts both expats on

assignments 1 and people who valuethe country for the good quality of lifeand the unique cultural experience 1.Indonesia, on the other hand, seems to bea top destination for business people, as41 moved there for ob-related reasons.

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Switzerland makes it to th rank in our

ersonal inance Index but drops all theway to number in our reverse ost ofLiving ranking. All in all, 4 indicate thattheir disposable income is enough to covertheir daily expenses. While 4 state that

their income is above average, one-fourthnd themselves at the opposite end of thescale.

Nonetheless, are satised with theirnancial situation. It is hardly a surprisethat 4 make a lot more money thanthey did back home: The yearly householdincome in Switzerland is rather high. One-third of our participants earn between SD100,000 and SD 10,000. In fact, 1 evenmake more than SD 00,000 per year.

Switzerland is a country for career peoplein search of a top ob with high earningpotential. Of our respondents, 1 wererecruited by a local company, 11 areforeign assignees, and another 1 founda ob on their own in the small Europeancountry.



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In this section, we will take a look at expatscurrent income in their host countrycompared to the earnings they wouldexpect to receive in a similar ob back home.We also asked our respondents to gaugehow much they believe they are earningcompared to the average income in theirhost country.

alf the survey respondents 0 say theyare making more money now than theydid in their home country. Over a quarter even report that their income isconsiderably higher than before. Two in ten

expats are earning about the same asthey did previously. Only have madea nancial loss income-wise by movingabroad.

The expats in our survey believe theirincomes are considerably higher than theaverage in their host country. A maority

6 estimate that their income is aboveaverage and almost a quarter 4 believeit to be signicantly above average. Only1 are of the opinion that they earn lessthan the local average.

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eople living in three Middle Eastern orentral Asian countries report that theirincome has increased signicantly sincemoving. In Qatar and Oman, for instance,46 of expats think they are earning a lotmore than they would back home, whilein azakhstan 4 state that they have

improved their income more than a bit.Moreover, you can nd one Europeannation Switzerland and an African stateNigeria on the same top ve list.

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nsurprisingly, the top ve countrieswhere expats believe they are earningconsiderably more than the local average

are all developing economies: azakhstan,ietnam, Indonesia, Nigeria, and anama.In the rst-ranked country in this category,azakhstan, over half the expats surveyed believe their personal income isconsiderably higher than the averageincome there.

On the ip side, when we look at countrieswhere expats are earning less than before,

we nd three countries with hard-hiteconomies reece, Argentina, and Spain in the bottom ve. Expats working in Israeland ganda also report a nancial loss.

Expats living in Luxembourg 4, Norway, and Denmark 1 feel that theyare earning less than the local average.owever, the average income in thesecountries is quite high.3A smaller number

of expats in uwait and the AE6 also think they are earning less thanaverage.

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A maority or near maority of expats fromseveral Eastern European countries

ungary, omania, Slovakia, and ulgaria as well as from the hilippines, feel thattheir income has considerably increasedcompared to back home.

Swiss people are the most likely to thinkthat their income in their host country islower than it would be back in Switzerland6 feel this way. This is to be expected,considering the high incomes in Switzerland.1

Australian, American, apanese, and Dutchexpats are also feeling the loss.

Lithuanians in particular feel that they arebeing paid a less than average wage. Almosta quarter think that their income issignicantly below average for their countryof residence. owever, 6 believe they areearning more than they would back home.Syrians, ulgarians, akistanis, and Iranians

also believe that their income is less thanthe local average, but still more than whatthey would earn for a comparable ob intheir home country. P6')*%(%

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Our survey participants were asked to tellus their gross annual household income.This was a purely optional question, butabout of the surveyed expats chose toanswer it. With the help of the results, wecan pinpoint trends in the distribution ofincome groups among the general surveypopulation.

Among the survey participants whoanswered this question, almost a quarter fall into the lowest income group lessthan SD ,000 per year. Another quarter earn an annual income of between

SD ,000-0,000. The maority make between SD 0,000-0,000 peryear. Only of respondents say that theirhousehold earnings are over SD 0,000per annum.

Argentina is the country with the highestportion of expat households 4 with a

yearly income in the lowest income bracketSD ,000 or less. reece 4, ganda41, Malaysia , and Egypt alsohave high percentages of low-income expathouseholds.

The country with the highest percentageof households that fall within the highestincome group more than SD 0,000per year is Nigeria, with 1. This Africancountry is followed by ussia 11,azakhstan 11, Switzerland , andMalaysia . Interestingly, Malaysia hassome of the highest-earning and lowest-

earning expat households in our survey.

When we look at dierent age groups, the41-0-year olds are the strongest in termsof gross household income. This grouphas the lowest percentages in the under

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Nigeria has the highest percentage of top-income expats,Argentina the lowest. The highest-earning expats are between41 and 0 years old.


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Expat omance


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While insisting that certain countries arebetter destinations for falling in love isprobably a bit far-fetched, some countries

ust stand out when it comes to romance.reece, hile, Argentina, Mexico, and thehilippines are our top spots for expat

romance

These are the destinations with some ofthe highest percentages of expats whoeither met their partner in their countryof residence or whose partner comes

from that country. ut thats not all: Theyalso scored well in other matters of theheart, such as for example the share ofparticipants who are blissfully happy withtheir romantic relationship.

Lets take a closer look at where the lovebirds among our survey respondents live.

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hile, the hilippines, reece, and Mexicoare all great places for meeting yoursignicant other, it turns out. Nearly half ofour survey participants in these countries

who are in a relationship have met theirpartner there.

Moreover, the vast maority of them is in arelationship with someone who comes fromtheir current country of residence. At 66,the share of people who are in a relationshipwith a local resident is the highest in the

hilippines. owever, Argentina , hile4, Mexico 4, and reece canalso show results that lie far above theglobal average of 1.

K#H( N1 98 %"( ;9$X-./0% R#=086(Argentina, hile, Mexico, and reece are the go-to placesfor romance. reece and the hilippines also rank highlyamong love birds.

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Thus, it does not come as a surprise thatexpats in these countries are also much lesslikely to be in a long-distance relationship.In hile, the share of survey respondentswhose partner still lives in another countryis only . While the respective numbersare indeed higher for reece, Argentina,Mexico, or the hilippines, they are stillbelow the global average of 1.

Out of the ve featured countries, thehilippines 1 and hile 1 havethe highest percentage of expats in arelationship who met their partner aftermoving abroad. Moreover, of ourparticipants in reece and in Argentinaindicate that they moved there for love.

reece also seems to be benecial toa couples happiness, as state thatthey are completely satised with theirrelationship. The hilippines is apparentlyhome to even more romance, with 6 of

non-single participants being completelysatised with their relationship. The globalaverage is 4.

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There are various factors which inuencea relationship and which might determineits success. After all, a move abroad cantake quite a toll on a relationship as one orboth partners experience frustration and

alienation, as well as other symptoms ofculture shock.

Thus, the ease of settling in of nding friends,learning the local language, and feelingwelcome in their country of residence may

play a big role when it comes to satisfactionwith ones relationship. Mexico tops ourEase of Settling In Index, mostly for its highpositive results for making friends and friendliness . One can easilyimagine that this explains why so manyof our respondents in Mexico met theirsignicant other after moving abroad.

The hilippines and Argentina also scorehighly in these categories. The hilippinescomes in fth in terms of ease of settlingin. Not only is it a very friendly destination

, it also ranks very well for ease oflanguage. Argentina, on the other hand, is agreat place for nding friends. In fact, ofrespondents are completely satised withthe ease of making friends in Argentina.

When it comes to meeting people, alreadyestablished friendships play a big role inArgentina and hile. Overall, 4 of surveyparticipants in Argentina and 1 in hile

indicate that they usually meet new peoplethrough their friends as compared to aglobal average of .

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-./0% R(*0%9#81"9/1242X ;8 UH($H9(VWhile many expats move with their partners, its mostly womenwho trail along. egardless of gender, however, it s older expatswho are happiest.

fact, 0 of our survey participants overthe age of 0 are in a relationship.

A similar pattern can be seen when welook at how satised people are with theirrelationship: 0 of our survey participantsaged 0 or older are completely happy withlife with their signicant other.

Overall, 4 of our non-single participants4 of men and of women havea partner who has the same nationalityas them. On the other hand, 1 are ina relationship with someone from their

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elationships in general and romance inparticular are often important factors thatinuence expatriate living. A long-distancerelationship might, for instance, be a strongmotivation for a move abroad, and onepartners decision to relocate can uproot acouples life.

ut what role does their relationship statusreally play for expats, and how does it aecttheir moving patterns Lets take a closerlook at love in the time of globalization

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Although one might assume that a busyexpat life makes it harder to maintain arelationship, single people are actually aminority among our survey participants.Overall, 64 of our participants are in arelationship. Expats without kids are morelikely to be single, while 6 of expats with

kids are in a committed relationship.

The relationship status also seems to bedetermined by age: the older the expat, themore likely it is that they have found theirspecial someone to settle down with. In

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current country of residence while 6 ofrespondents have a signicant other fromyet another country.

This means that more than half of theexpats surveyed are in a cross-culturalrelationship. ows that for internationalunderstanding

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5"$#7+" -./0% -,(1sychographic ositioning of ost ountries O1T)6$%'8 :&.)'%*Australia OEAustria D2elgium DB

razil DManada DDhina 321rance 32Fermany 32O

Italy 333Netherlands 3340'*'& 33E

Saudi Arabia 312Singapore 31BSpain 31MSwitzerland 31DThailand 3B1

Turkey 3BFAE 3BOnited ingdom 343

SA 344

our ountry through Expat Eyes


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or this series of charts, we asked expatsa number of questions about how theyddescribe their current country of residenceand especially the people. Questionsincluded, for example, would you say they

are rather innovative or traditional Morereserved or more outgoing esponseswere collected on a rating scale of one toseven.

The answers to the various questionswere sorted into two categories referringto broadly dened pairs of oppositesemotionalrational, traditionaldynamic.The values from the various rating scalesserved as the basis for assigning coordinates

on each axis. Thus, you can place eachcountry within the coordinate system.

According to the respective place in thecoordinate system, you can see at a glancehow expats .&'@&their destination. This

chart does not present any obective factsabout those countries, but rather their*6SR&@%#7&image among expatriates livingthere.

ermany, for instance, is seen as having a

cool and rational population that doesntcome across as particularly warm-heartedto outsiders. esidents, as seen throughexpat eyes, are equally balanced betweenconservatism and innovation.

G1,6"#+$0/"96G#19%9#898+ #: -./0%[#1% S#78%$9(1ow do expats see their local neighbors and their new home These chartsvisualize how expatriates describe various countries around the globe.

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Expat Insider 2014 Report

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Transcript of Expat Insider 2014 Report