If you are planning to work abroad take a look at this survey first.
“Family life is the leading indicator of whether or not an expat assignment will be successful. Many overseas stints end prematurely because an employee’s family feels disconnected from the new country and has trouble handling basic tasks like refilling prescriptions, driving around town or dealing with the local police.”
It was surprising to see that Bahrain topped the Top 10 Friendliest Country in the World an Expat Explorer survey commissioned by HSBC Bank International and conducted by the research company FreshMinds and published at Forbes Magazine.
I was surprised to see that Philippines was not included in the list and would have love to see where my country stands but sadly it was not there. Last year Canada topped the list.
The survey respondents were expatriates from the U.S., Europe and elsewhere and lived in more than two dozen countries and on four continents. They ranked each country based on 23 factors, including food, entertainment, health care, commute and education. While the ranking is according to a so-called “integration score,” a snapshot of which countries are most welcoming to expats.
According to the expats surveyed the World’s Friendliest Country are:
1. Bahrain
2. Canada
3. Australia
4. Thailand
5. Malaysia
6. South Africa
7. Hong Kong
8. Singapore
9. Spain
10. United States
However, Bahrain’s ranking would have been a fluke because according to the demographics only 35 expatriates from Bahrain participated in the survey compared to 450 respondents from the U.K.
Read more about the World’s Friendlies Countries here.
13 Comments
According to Forbes, “Bahrain ranked as the best country to join local community groups and coordinate health care.” 🙂
I live in Ecuador and it is a wonderful country. Its people are so nice and kind, they will give you the most warming welcome. I have put together a helpful fact sheet, and also an article on Ecuadorian manners and customs.
I believe that we are one of the friendliest people in the world. It is just too sad to know that many filipinos are also called gold digger or someone who are always taking advantage
I am looking forward sa malaysia. 🙂
Thanks a lot for taking the time to read our survey and comment on it.
We’re always trying to reach out to more people to get as broad a view of the expat population as possible, and our research uses averages for each country to ensure that the results are statistically aligned when, as you mention, more people respond in one market than another. We intend the survey to be indicative rather than definitive, but we always want to include findings from as many expats as possible. We need a certain base number of responses from each country to represent it accurately, which is why some countries aren’t currently included in the survey. We’re hoping that the next edition of the survey will be the biggest and most comprehensive yet, and would love your help in achieving that aim, so keep checking on our blog at http://www.expatexplorer.blogspot.com/ to see how you and other interested expats can participate in the next one.