Survey says New Zealand among worst destinations for expats. Here’s how India ranked

Around 91 per cent said that they are happy with their life in Mexico. Indonesia, Taiwan, Portugal and Spain made up the top five slots, while Kuwait, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Cyprus and Luxembourg made up the bottom five.

India, meanwhile, ranked towards the tail end of the list, ranking 36 out of the 52 countries. Sandwiched between Egypt (35th) and the UK (37th), India fared highest in affordability and the availability of health care. However, it was rated as the world’s worst in terms of air quality, second-worst in environment and travel and transit facilities. China ranked 33rd, Canada 23rd and the United States 14th.

The Expat Insider survey is conducted annually by InterNations, a community for expatriates. This year’s survey was conducted online and saw 11,970 respondents representing 177 nationalities and living in 181 countries and territories worldwide.

At least 50 participants were needed to mark a destination, resulting in 52 countries being assessed on the grounds of 56 different rating factors — ranging from the availability of public transportation to job satisfaction — against last year’s 37 indicators. The respondents were largely split evenly in terms of gender, age and relationship status. Majority of them were living without dependent children abroad and had a graduate or post-graduate degree.

The high cost of living was a common theme in the bottom-ranked nations of New Zealand, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and the UK.

Expats found New Zealand, which fared above only protest-prone Hong Kong, too fancy to live in. Respondents from New Zealand said that the cost of living is too high for the salaries and that there is a growing divide between the rich and the poor. Nearly half of them said that their disposable income isn’t enough to live comfortably compared to 28% who thought the same globally.

Luxembourg and the UK expats echoed this, and said their take-home salary remained low as expenses increased, making saving money difficult.

At the bottom, Kuwait ranked 52nd, with 37% saying they are happy with their lives in the country. Most of the respondents said they were unhappy with the natural environment, dissatisfied with their career opportunities and work-life balance, and felt unable to openly express their opinions. A British expat told the survey that Kuwait has poor infrastructure and is not eco-friendly.

Towards the top, Indonesia scored high in terms of ease of settling in and personal finance indices. The report said that “close to two in three expats (64%) say that their disposable household income is more than enough to lead a comfortable life (vs. 45% globally).” Taiwan proved to be a top healthcare provider as all expats found healthcare affordable in comparison with a global average of 61% of respondents.