Want quality of life? Head to Taiwan, Mexico or Costa Rica, but forget SA, say expats

SA has come close to last in a survey of expats living and working abroad in 2021, while Taiwan, Mexico and Costa Rica have been ranked top, based on their cost of living, ease of settling in and overall quality of life.

The US was ranked only 34th out of 59 countries, largely because of how expats viewed quality of life in America, according to a new survey published on Tuesday.

Taiwan topped the charts for the third year in a row in the poll of 12,420 expats conducted by InterNations, a Munich-based expat network with about four million members. Expats appreciated Taiwan’s medical care, on top of quality of life. Ninety-six percent of respondents were happy with the quality of care, compared with 71% globally. Expats also reported they were more satisfied with their job security in Taiwan and the state of the local economy than their peers in other countries.

Health was, of course, of particular concern for expats this year. InterNations measured the role Covid-19 has played in their lives, but its pandemic-related findings did not influence countries’ overall rankings. Globally, 45% of respondents said the pandemic had some influence on their time abroad or plans to go abroad.

Expats ranked Mexico and Costa Rica second and third. Both earned high marks for getting settled, which can be a difficult transition in other countries. Kuwait, Russia and Japan scored particularly low in this category. In Kuwait, 46% of expats said they did not feel at home in the local culture and 51% had difficulty finding new friends. In Japan, only 45% said they felt at home with the local culture. And in Russia, 48% of expats said it was difficult to live in the country’s cities without speaking the local language.

The US, which often doesn’t do well in these types of surveys, received low scores for quality of life and cost of living.

About 85% of respondents said it was easy to settle in Mexico, while 91% of expats described Costa Rica’s population as “generally friendly”. Four in five expats in Mexico said they were satisfied with their financial situations and 84% in Costa Rica said their disposable household income was “enough or more than enough” to cover their expenses.

Kuwait, Italy and SA were at the bottom of the list. Kuwait came last for the seventh time in eight years, earning poor marks for quality of life. Some expats noted its lack of leisure options. In Italy, 30% of expats said they were dissatisfied with their financial situation. And expats in SA reported low scores for job security and happiness with the state of the local economy.

The US, which often doesn’t do well in these types of surveys, received low scores for quality of life and cost of living. Expats reported a distaste for some elements of the healthcare system: just 20% were satisfied with its affordability and 19% said the quality of care is negative. That compares with a global average of 14% who rate their care negatively.

The survey showed a wide divergence in the way expats stay informed about the pandemic. In Bahrain and Singapore, 75% and 74% of expats said they relied on official government channels for information about the pandemic. However, in New Zealand, 69% of expats said they relied on the local news, as did 65% of those in Australia and 60% in the UK. And in several Gulf states, large majorities of expats said they relied on social media for Covid-19 news: that hit 59% in Oman, 55% in Saudi Arabia and 53% in Kuwait. 

There was also a disparity in how expats rated official coronavirus communications and related regulations. Expats gave New Zealand, Singapore and Australia top scores. Brazil clocked in at the bottom in terms of Covid-19 communication, with Egypt in second-to-last place. The US ranked near the bottom for communication about Covid-19, at 54th place.

— Bloomberg News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com