Countries across Europe are reporting record numbers of COVID cases as medical services across the continent struggle to cope with the Omicron variant.
Thankfully, Omicron is milder than the Delta variant that gripped the UK and Europe in 2021.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned a surge of cases in Europe in a week is pushing health services towards the brink of collapse.
Although COVID is rampant worldwide, the number of cases in Europe is ahead of the rest of the world – for instance, the Americas posted a 30 per cent increase in cases last week, compared with 57 per cent in Europe.
To make sense of the data, we’ve extracted the latest stats for the top 20 countries around the world where British expats live.
British Expats And COVID
This data takes the global destinations with the largest British expat populations and ranks them by COVID cases since the pandemic first took a grip in January 2020.
The USA – home to 678,000 Brit expats – has seen the worst of COVID with 58,000 cases and 851,000 deaths.
In Europe, Spain, Germany and France have all suffered badly during the pandemic with more than 24 million cases and 330,000 deaths.
The UK ranks as the fourth worst COVID affected country with nearly 150,000 deaths and over 13.5 million coronavirus cases.
How favourite expat destinations rank for COVID
Countries are ranked by the number of British expats who have moved there.
| Country | British expat population | Population | Cases | Deaths | Cases per 1m people | Deaths per 1m people | COVID rank | |
| 1 | Australia | 1,300,000 | 25,945,846 | 612,388 | 2,290 | 23,603 | 88 | 61 |
| 2 | Spain | 761,000 | 46,782,093 | 6,785,286 | 89,689 | 145,040 | 1,917 | 9 |
| 3 | United States | 678,000 | 333,929,490 | 58,040,720 | 851,439 | 173,811 | 2,550 | 1 |
| 4 | Canada | 603,000 | 38,241,053 | 2,352,524 | 30,452 | 61,518 | 796 | 23 |
| 5 | Ireland | 291,000 | 5,020,927 | 867,199 | 5,912 | 172,717 | 1,177 | 48 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 215,000 | 5,002,100 | 14,405 | 40 | 2,880 | 10 | 169 |
| 7 | South Africa | 212,000 | 60,435,712 | 3,483,590 | 91,451 | 57,641 | 1,513 | 18 |
| 8 | France | 200,000 | 65,491,348 | 10,589,505 | 124,563 | 161,693 | 1,902 | 5 |
| 9 | Germany | 115,000 | 84,187,972 | 7,279,025 | 113,471 | 86,462 | 1,348 | 8 |
| 10 | Portugal | 60,000 | 10,151,860 | 1,460,406 | 19,015 | 143,856 | 1,873 | 33 |
| 11 | Cyprus | 59,000 | 1,220,611 | 183,178 | 646 | 150,071 | 529 | 103 |
| 12 | UAE | 55,000 | 10,070,515 | 774,897 | 2,170 | 76,947 | 215 | 51 |
| 13 | Pakistan | 47,000 | 227,352,812 | 1,298,763 | 28,950 | 5,713 | 127 | 39 |
| 14 | Singapore | 45,000 | 5,919,713 | 281,596 | 832 | 47,569 | 141 | 89 |
| 15 | Switzerland | 45,000 | 8,750,052 | 1,385,365 | 12,359 | 158,326 | 1,412 | 35 |
| 16 | Israel | 44,000 | 9,326,000 | 1,423,289 | 8,247 | 152,615 | 884 | 34 |
| 17 | Netherlands | 44,000 | 17,192,053 | 3,198,835 | 20,990 | 186,065 | 1,221 | 19 |
| 18 | Thailand | 41,000 | 70,064,130 | 2,239,475 | 21,769 | 31,963 | 311 | 25 |
| 19 | China | 36,000 | 1,439,323,776 | 102,932 | 4,636 | 72 | 3 | 115 |
| 20 | Turkey | 34,000 | 85,707,084 | 9,652,394 | 82,932 | 112,621 | 968 | 7 |
| World | – | – | 295,734,435 | 239,927 | 37,940 | 703 | – | |
| UK | – | – | 13,641,520 | 148,941 | 199,368 | 2,177 | 4 |
Source: Worldometer.com
Expats And COVID Vaccinations
The favourite destination countries with the best COVID vaccination rates are Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), ranking first, and Portugal, which lies in sixth place.
The UAE reports the remarkable figure of 99 per cent of the population vaccinated against COVID, with 93 per cent double-jabbed and 38 per cent boosted.
The UK comes in at 37th place. Pakistan and South Africa have yet to start booster programs.
Delivering third COVID shots is proving slow in several countries, like New Zealand and Australia, which are home to around 2 million British expats.
The table is ranked by countries with the largest British expat populations:
| Country | British expat population | Population | Vaccinated | Fully vaccinated | Boosted | Vaccine rank | |
| 1 | Australia | 1,300,000 | 25,945,846 | 81% | 78% | 11% | 20 |
| 2 | Spain | 761,000 | 46,782,093 | 85% | 81% | 31% | 11 |
| 3 | United States | 678,000 | 333,929,490 | 74% | 62% | 22% | 47 |
| 4 | Canada | 603,000 | 38,241,053 | 85% | 78% | 22% | 12 |
| 5 | Ireland | 291,000 | 5,020,927 | 79% | 78% | 45% | 29 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 215,000 | 5,002,100 | 81% | 78% | 7.5% | 19 |
| 7 | South Africa | 212,000 | 60,435,712 | 32% | 27% | – | 128 |
| 8 | France | 200,000 | 65,491,348 | 79% | 74% | 34% | 28 |
| 9 | Germany | 115,000 | 84,187,972 | 74% | 71% | 40% | 46 |
| 10 | Portugal | 60,000 | 10,151,860 | 90% | 89% | 30% | 6 |
| 11 | Cyprus | 59,000 | 1,220,611 | 55% | 51% | 22% | 86 |
| 12 | UAE | 55,000 | 10,070,515 | >99% | 93% | 38% | 1 |
| 13 | Pakistan | 47,000 | 227,352,812 | 46% | 33% | – | 107 |
| 14 | Singapore | 45,000 | 5,919,713 | 84% | 83% | 11% | 13 |
| 15 | Switzerland | 45,000 | 8,750,052 | 70% | 68% | 26% | 59 |
| 16 | Israel | 44,000 | 9,326,000 | 73% | 66% | 47% | 52 |
| 17 | Netherlands | 44,000 | 17,192,053 | 77% | 70% | 14% | 36 |
| 18 | Thailand | 41,000 | 70,064,130 | 73% | 65% | 8.9% | 50 |
| 19 | China | 36,000 | 1,439,323,776 | 90% | 86% | 8.6% | 5 |
| 20 | Turkey | 34,000 | 85,707,084 | 68% | 62% | 29% | 63 |
| UK | – | 68,423,761 | 78% | 71% | 51% | 37 |
Source: New York Times
Countries Tackling COVID Best
The top COVID testing nation is the USA, where more than 820 million tests have been carried out.
France(188 million), Turkey (120 million)and the UAE (113 million) take the other top testing places in British expat destinations.
To find out which countries have the best COVID stats, a point was awarded for table placings, for example the UAE gained one point for topping the vaccination rate table, while the USA scored two points for taking the first place for COVID cases and tests delivered.
The score for COVID cases, vaccinations and testing were added. Each country was then ranked, with first place going to the country with the lowest score.
Here’s the table:
| Rank | Country | Score | COVID | Vaccination | Testing |
| 1 | Spain | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 |
| 2 | France | 38 | 5 | 28 | 5 |
| 3 | United States | 49 | 1 | 47 | 1 |
| 4 | Canada | 53 | 23 | 12 | 18 |
| 5 | UAE | 62 | 51 | 1 | 10 |
| 6 | Germany | 66 | 8 | 46 | 12 |
| 7 | Portugal | 71 | 33 | 6 | 32 |
| 8 | Turkey | 79 | 7 | 63 | 9 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 93 | 19 | 36 | 38 |
| 10 | Australia | 98 | 61 | 20 | 17 |
| 11 | Israel | 109 | 34 | 52 | 23 |
| 12 | Thailand | 116 | 25 | 50 | 41 |
| 13 | China (including Hong Kong) | 126 | 115 | 5 | 6 |
| 14 | Ireland | 132 | 48 | 29 | 55 |
| 15 | Switzerland | 140 | 35 | 59 | 46 |
| 16 | Singapore | 141 | 89 | 13 | 39 |
| 17 | Pakistan | 181 | 39 | 107 | 35 |
| 18 | South Africa | 183 | 18 | 128 | 37 |
| 19 | Cyprus | 245 | 103 | 86 | 56 |
| 20 | New Zealand | 258 | 169 | 19 | 70 |
The UK scored 45, which would have meant a third place ranking above the USA.
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