Expats rate Mexico as the world’s best

Mexico, Indonesia and Taiwan make up the top three destinations in this year's InterNations 'Expat Insider' survey of almost 12,000 expatriates across the globe.

David Sapsted

12 July 2022

The three all rank highly as far as personal finances and ease of settling in are concerned while, at the other end of the 52-nation table, Kuwait comes in last for exactly the opposite reasons.Published on Tuesday, the survey of a sample of InterNations' four million members covers areas including working abroad, financial ramifications and ease of settling in. For the first time, this year's rankings also include an 'Expat Essentials Index', which covers digital life, admin topics, housing, and language.The other seven nations in this year's top ten are Portugal, Spain, the UAE, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and Singapore, but Mexico stands out as the clear favourite, coming top in the sub-categories of local friendliness, finding friends, and culture."Mexico performs worse, but still well, in the working abroad (17th) and quality of life (24th) indices," reported InterNations. "Overall, 91 per cent of expats are happy with their life in Mexico."Second-placed Indonesia emerges at the top when it comes to the ease of settling in and third on personal finances. "Close to two in three expats say that their disposable household income is more than enough to lead a comfortable life. The country also ranks among the best worldwide in the Expat Essentials Index, which is mainly due to the language and housing."At the other end of the rankings, Kuwait is joined by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, Italy and Malta.

While Kuwait ranks among the worst destinations worldwide in virtually all major categories, expats in New Zealand reported struggling with their careers while those in Hong Kong said they were unhappy with the local environment, which has increasingly come under Beijing control. The UK ranks 37th this year, mainly because its performance in the Personal Finance Index is rated one of the worst, along with Luxembourg and New Zealand.At a time of runaway inflation, InterNations reported: "Exactly one in four expats is unhappy with their financial situation (versus the global average of 21 per cent) and over one in three feels that their disposable household income is not enough to lead a comfortable life (versus 28 per cent globally)."It probably does not help that the gross yearly income of expats in the UK is below average: 78 per cent earn $75,000 or less per year, while just 14 per cent make $100,000 or more."But salaries aside, the UK is rated to have a "great working environment" with almost three-quarters of expats satisfied with their career opportunities and a similar proportion saying that moving to the UK has improved their future prospects.And, while there was widespread dissatisfaction with the housing market and the post-pandemic state of the health service, the report added: "On the bright side, expats find digital life in the United Kingdom quite satisfying. Nearly four in five expats are happy with the availability of administrative/government services online and another 89 per cent are delighted with the unrestricted access to online services."

* For its Expat Insider survey, InterNations asked 11,970 expats, representing 177 nationalities and living in 181 countries or territories to provide information on various aspects of expat life, as well as their gender, age, and nationality. Participants were asked to rate up to 56 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of one to seven. The rating process emphasised the respondents’ personal satisfaction with these aspects, considering both emotional topics and more factual aspects with equal weight.