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For the past nine years, the Expat Insider survey has been asking how expats around the world would rate life in their adopted country. The results for 2022 have been released and Germany has put in one of its poorest-ever performances, I Am Expat reports.
The ninth Expat Insider survey has been released by the world’s largest expat community, InterNations. This year’s survey asked 12.000 respondents from all over the world to rate expat life in 52 different countries using five different scoring categories:
- Quality of Life (travel, environment, leisure options, health and wellbeing)
- Ease of Settling In (local friendliness, finding friends, culture and welcome)
- Working Abroad (career prospects, salaries and job security, work culture and satisfaction)
- Personal Finance
- Expat Essentials (digital life, admin topics, housing and local language)
At the top of the 2022 ranking were previous high-scorers Mexico, Indonesia and Taiwan; expats reportedly praised the ease of settling in and their personal financial situations.
Kuwait, New Zealand and Hong Kong came bottom of the ranking.
Expats in Germany unhappy with digital life and social lives
A brand new Expat Essentials category made this year’s ranking challenging for Germany, which saw its position slide from a mildly respectable 36th out of 59 in 2021, to 42nd out of 52 in 2022; only just outside the bottom top 10.
This significant slip down the rankings is primarily a result of the federal republic coming close to bottom in the Expat Essentials category. InterNations said, “This crushing verdict is due to its bottom 10 results in three out of four subcategories: Housing (47th) Digital Life (48th) and Language (49th)."
Among the aspects most negatively rated were the competitive German housing market, the difficulty of learning German and the woeful state of digital life, including the low availability of government services online, the lack of cashless options and sub-par access to high-speed internet.
Expats again highlighted the difficulties they had settling in in Germany. Overall in this category, the federal republic ranked in the bottom five and was one of the 10 worst-rated destinations for each sub-category. More than a third of expats expressed unhappiness with their social lives, while a quarter reportedly said that they found the local population unfriendly. Nearly one in four said they did not feel welcome in Germany.
Higher satisfaction with working lives and environment
Germany did do a little better in other categories - coming close to the top 10 (12th overall) in the Working Abroad index and claiming fifth place on the Salary & Job Security Subcategory - although some expats did feel that creativity was not encouraged in the German business culture. Nine out of 10 expats favourably rated the German economy and said they were able to enjoy a stable life in Germany.
Germany also scored a respectable 15th place in the Quality of Life Index, with high scores in Safety & Security and Environment & Climate. Expats said they felt safe in the federal republic, while green goods and services are readily available. In terms of transportation, the overall verdict was that infrastructure for driving, walking and cycling is in place but public transport could be made more affordable.
The best expat countries in the world
According to InterNations, the top 10 countries around the world for expats in 2022 are:
- Mexico
- Indonesia
- Taiwan
- Portugal
- Spain
- UAE
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Australia
- Singapore
Further information on the survey, including a detailed breakdown of the scores, is available on the InterNations website.
Source: I Am Expat
(Links and quote)
For the past nine years, the Expat Insider survey has been asking how expats around the world would rate life in their adopted country. The results for 2022 have been released and Germany has put in one of its poorest-ever performances, I Am Expat reports.
The ninth Expat Insider survey has been released by the world’s largest expat community, InterNations. This year’s survey asked 12.000 respondents from all over the world to rate expat life in 52 different countries using five different scoring categories:
- Quality of Life (travel, environment, leisure options, health and wellbeing)
- Ease of Settling In (local friendliness, finding friends, culture and welcome)
- Working Abroad (career prospects, salaries and job security, work culture and satisfaction)
- Personal Finance
- Expat Essentials (digital life, admin topics, housing and local language)
At the top of the 2022 ranking were previous high-scorers Mexico, Indonesia and Taiwan; expats reportedly praised the ease of settling in and their personal financial situations.
Kuwait, New Zealand and Hong Kong came bottom of the ranking.
Expats in Germany unhappy with digital life and social lives
A brand new Expat Essentials category made this year’s ranking challenging for Germany, which saw its position slide from a mildly respectable 36th out of 59 in 2021, to 42nd out of 52 in 2022; only just outside the bottom top 10.
This significant slip down the rankings is primarily a result of the federal republic coming close to bottom in the Expat Essentials category. InterNations said, “This crushing verdict is due to its bottom 10 results in three out of four subcategories: Housing (47th) Digital Life (48th) and Language (49th)."
Among the aspects most negatively rated were the competitive German housing market, the difficulty of learning German and the woeful state of digital life, including the low availability of government services online, the lack of cashless options and sub-par access to high-speed internet.
Expats again highlighted the difficulties they had settling in in Germany. Overall in this category, the federal republic ranked in the bottom five and was one of the 10 worst-rated destinations for each sub-category. More than a third of expats expressed unhappiness with their social lives, while a quarter reportedly said that they found the local population unfriendly. Nearly one in four said they did not feel welcome in Germany.
Higher satisfaction with working lives and environment
Germany did do a little better in other categories - coming close to the top 10 (12th overall) in the Working Abroad index and claiming fifth place on the Salary & Job Security Subcategory - although some expats did feel that creativity was not encouraged in the German business culture. Nine out of 10 expats favourably rated the German economy and said they were able to enjoy a stable life in Germany.
Germany also scored a respectable 15th place in the Quality of Life Index, with high scores in Safety & Security and Environment & Climate. Expats said they felt safe in the federal republic, while green goods and services are readily available. In terms of transportation, the overall verdict was that infrastructure for driving, walking and cycling is in place but public transport could be made more affordable.
The best expat countries in the world
According to InterNations, the top 10 countries around the world for expats in 2022 are:
- Mexico
- Indonesia
- Taiwan
- Portugal
- Spain
- UAE
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Australia
- Singapore
Further information on the survey, including a detailed breakdown of the scores, is available on the InterNations website.
Source: I Am Expat
(Links and quote)