Some of the most popular global destinations have picked up a thumbs down as good places to live from expats.
Kuwait stays anchored to the bottom of the list of 68 countries for the third year running as expats quoted unfriendliness and difficulties with settling in as major drawbacks for living and working there.
Britain slipped into the bottom 10 – falling from 21 to 59 with the high cost of living cited as a problem, especially with the 38% of expats in the UK living in notoriously expensive London. Bad weather also detracted from the country’s score.
The winner – two years running
Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey and Brazil also took bottom placings.
The oil-rich Gulf State of Bahrain topped the vote for the second year running from 18,000 expats in the research by expat online community InterNations. Expats praised the friendliness of locals and the ease of being accepted by locals.
Taiwan took second place, based on career prospects and a good lifestyle.
The USA is slipping down the table year by year, mainly due to expats fearing for their safety with so much reported gun crime.
Longest working week
The US is among the 15 countries considered least safe for the first time. Another factor dragging the country down is a perceived lack of affordable health care.
In the past three years, the US has dropped from 31stto 56thplace as expats rate the country with deteriorating peace, political stability and personal safety. The UK has moved down from 26thto 49thranking based on the same factors.
Fast internet access boosted the score for the UK and USA. The top-ranked country for internet access was Estonia, with Myanmar considered worst.
Job security was best in Luxembourg, while Brazil scored worst.
The longest working week was 46.8 hours in Hong Kong against a global average of 44 hours.
Top 10 countries for expats 2018
(From best down)
- Bahrain
- Taiwan
- Ecuador
- Mexico
- Singapore
- Portugal
- Costa Rica
- Spain
- Colombia
- Czech Republic
Many won their rankings due to popularity with American retirees.
Bottom 10 countries for expats 2018
(From bottom up)
- Kuwait
- Saudi Arabia
- India
- Brazil
- Turkey
- Egypt
- Peru
- Italy
- Greece
- UK
