Expats have ranked the best places to live and work in 2023 in an annual InterNations survey.
The global travel and networking specialist quizzed more than 12,000 people living in 172 countries to garner insights into expat life around the world.
The findings of the 10th annual Expat Insider survey identified Mexico as the best place to live for expats.
The survey analyses factors such as quality of life, ease of settling in, personal finance and more.
Of the more than 12,000 polled, a country needed a sample size of at least 50 survey respondents to be listed in any of the indices and the overall ranking. In 2023, 53 destinations met this requirement.
Mexico stood out, InterNations said, with 91 per cent of people surveyed happy with their life in the country. People surveyed found it easy to get used to the local culture, feel welcome and were able to enjoy a low cost of living and an attractive climate.
In terms of the Middle East, Bahrain was the best place for expats according to the InterNations survey.
It featured ninth overall in the world, with admin essentials such as securing a visa being the best in the world.
The UAE and Oman also scored well in the survey, coming in 11th and 12th in the global rankings.
Not everywhere in the region performed as well. Saudi Arabia (28th) and Qatar (31st) were in the middle of the pack, but Kuwait finished in last place in the 2023 rankings (53).
InterNations’ Top 10 destinations
- Mexico
- Spain
- Panama
- Malaysia
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Costa Rica
- Philippines
- Bahrain
- Portugal
- UAE
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- Qatar
- Kuwait
According to InterNations, the UAE comes 11th out of 53 destinations in the Expat Insider 2023 survey.
It made it into the top five of three indices: Expat Essentials (2nd), Working Abroad (4th), and Quality of Life (4th).
According to expats, it has the best infrastructure for cars, the government strongly supports policies to protect the environment, its local business culture very much encourages creativity, and it is the easiest destination to get a visa for — the UAE ranks first for all these factors.
