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Canada tops the best place to live list |
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| New HSBC Bank International survey says that Canada is the best place to live as an expatriate |
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Written by Workplace Staff
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Expat Experience, the second report in the Expat Explorer research, showed that expats in Canada have the best quality of life and found it among the easiest places in the world to integrate with the local population. Australia and Thailand also ranked in the top three countries, when life as an expat was compared with life in their home country.
Now in its second year, Expat Explorer is the largest survey of its kind, surveying over 3,100 expats from more than 50 countries. Expat Experience is the second of three reports and explores expats’ lifestyle experiences while they live and work abroad. This is determined by 23 factors, including:
- Improvement in quality of a number of day to day items including accommodation, food, social life, healthcare, working hours, family life
- Ease of organising finances
- Ease of finding accommodation
- Ability to make friends
- Ability to integrate with the local community
Interestingly, a number of countries in emerging markets scored poorly, with Russia and India propping up the bottom of the league table.
Commenting on this, David Norton, head of customer propositions for HSBC Bank International, says that the second report revealed fascinating insights into expats’ priorities, particularly when financial gain is taken out of the equation.
“We have seen that there is a distinct trade-off between income and overall quality of life, as many of the top performers in our first report, which examined the best places to make and save money, have scored towards the bottom of this report’s league table,” Norton says.
“What is clear is that the locations where salaries may not be as high, such as Canada and Australia, are where expats are really enjoying not only an increased quality of life but are also finding it easy to fit in to their new communities.”
Expats enjoy the good life
The survey revealed that expats enjoy an overall better quality of life once they move away from their country of origin.
Expats reported that the biggest increases in quality of life were in the categories of accommodation, with almost half (42 per cent) of expats saying that this had improved, as had the commute into work (44 per cent). The biggest reductions in quality were in the standard of available entertainment and social life, where around a third (36 per centand 35 per cent respectively) of expats noticed a decline in each area.
Life is so good, more and more expats are choosing to stay abroad. Over half of expats (58 per cent) questioned in 2009 have lived abroad for more than five years, compared with 45 per cent of expats living abroad for the same time in 2008. The top three countries for settling down are South Africa, Thailand and Canada, where 55 per cent, 53 per cent and 52 per cent of expats respectively have lived there for more than five years.
Established markets generally better than emerging markets for quality of life
Countries located in established markets generally outperformed those in the emerging regions for quality of life and ease of integrating into the local community. Canada, the US and Australia stormed ahead in terms of improved quality of accommodation, with 68 per cent, 61 per cent and 57 per cent respectively agreeing that their homes are better quality now, compared with their country of origin.
The survey revealed that the land of sun, sea and sand also seems to have the ingredients for a happier and healthier life, with almost half (48 per cent and 45 per cent respectively) of expats living in Australia reporting a marked improvement in their family life and personal health.
Russia, which was top for expat finances in the first Expat Explorer report, came 24th out of 26 countries when ranked according to quality of life, suggesting that in this country financial gain is a strong motivator for expats, rather than overall quality of lifestyle.
UK continues to perform poorly
As it did in 2008, our research revealed that the UK was one of the worst locations when it comes to expat lifestyle. Two-fifths (41 per cent) of expats in the UK find it difficult to find somewhere to live, compared to a 28 per cent average across all regions surveyed. Less than one-fifth (16 per cent) of expats in the UK found that the quality of their accommodation had increased since moving, compared to the majority (58 per cent) noticing a decrease in quality.
Around a third (31 per cent) of expats living in the UK claimed that their health has deteriorated since moving there. One factor that could have contributed to this is the commute to work – over half (53 per cent) of UK-based expats claim that this has become worse.
Despite this, the UK does hold the crown for being expat entertainment capital of the world, with over half (58 per cent) of expats in the UK saying that the quality of entertainment had increased.
A social bunch
One in two (49 per cent) expats have a positive experience making friends in a new country. Canada, which scored the highest for ease of integration in the 2008 survey, has yet again emerged as the best place for expats to integrate into local society. It scored highly across all categories including making local friends and joining community groups.
However, Asia emerged overall as the place to go to make friends, with Thailand ranking as the easiest country to forge new bonds. One in five expats have found love overseas, with almost half (47 per cent) of expats in Thailand claiming that they had found love. However, single expats in India or Qatar would be better off buying a teddy bear – just 4 per cent of expats have found love while living in these countries.
While making friends is easy for most expats, there is a preference for making friends within the expat rather than the local community.
A rewarding but challenging life
In addition to adapting to the challenges of setting up a new social network, there are all the practical household elements to sort out. However, when organising a new life overseas the traditional headache inducing factors such as finances, utilities and healthcare are proving less of a concern, according to our research.
Surprisingly only a quarter of expats overall (28 per cent) said that they found it difficult to sort out accommodation in their new country of residence. Most expats generally don’t find organising their finances an issue. However Brazil and Japan are two countries where it is difficult, with almost half (47 per cent and 45 per cent respectively) of expats living there saying that they found it the biggest challenge.
Learning the local language remains the largest expat challenge of all, with less than one in three (28 per cent) expats overall having made the effort to learn one of the local languages.
“What is important to note is that the report has found that, in general, expats are still earning higher salaries than at home and are also enjoying better quality of life,” adds Norton.
The final instalment in the Expat Explorer series, Offshore Offspring, will be released early in 2010 and examines the best locations to raise a family.
Want to learn more? Follow the updates and join the debate online:
Tweet at: http://twitter.com/expatexplorer
Share your experiences: http://expatexplorer.blogspot.com/
Read the report in full: http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/expatexplorer
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