Colombia Ranked 8th Among 65 Countries for Best Expat Living

Germany-based InterNations announced this month that Colombia ranks eighth among 65 countries for best expat living – a jump upward of 12 places, compared to its rank of 20th in 2016.

However, Colombia ranked a relatively poor 31st for working abroad.

In the survey of 13,000 respondents worldwide, Bahrain took the number-one spot for best expat living, followed by Mexico (second) and Costa Rica (third), according to InterNations.

Rounding out the top-10 best-for-living in 2017 were Taiwan (fourth), Portugal (fifth), New Zealand (sixth), Malta (seventh), Colombia (eighth), Singapore (ninth) and Spain (tenth).

In the same survey, the 10 worst countries for expat living were (in order) Greece, Kuwait, Nigeria, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Ukraine, Qatar, India and Turkey.

“Between eight and nine out of 10 expats rate the friendliness of the population towards foreign residents positively,” according to InterNations.

“At the other end of the ranking, Greece, Kuwait, and Nigeria are least popular among those living abroad. Issues range from insufficient incomes to a poor quality of life to problems with personal safety,” according to the organization.

“For the first time since the Expat Insider survey was introduced, none of the previous year’s top-three destinations led the ranking: Surprise winner Bahrain even leapt from 19th position to first place.” 

Meanwhile, the best countries for working abroad “have undergone quite some changes since 2016,” according to InterNations. 

The best country for working in this year’s ranking is Czech Republic, while Colombia came in at a relatively poor 31sth place. Colombia also came in at 19th place for work-life balance and 33rd place for job security.

“Only six destinations even remain among the 2017 top 10 [for working] — for example, New Zealand (second), Malta (fifth), Germany (seventh), and Norway (eighth).

“The Czech Republic, which came in ninth in 2016, dethrones Luxembourg [for best working place], which now ranks fourth this year. Three-quarters of respondents in the Czech Republic are satisfied with their job, and job security in particular seems to have improved since 2016 (65% versus 74% satisfied). 

“The Netherlands is another big winner, jumping from 20th to sixth position. The country has especially improved in terms of work-life balance, as 75% now rate this factor positively, compared to 63% in the previous year. 

“On the other hand, Taiwan (12th), Panama (30th), Austria (19th), and Australia (32nd) have suffered great losses, no longer ranking among the top 10 destinations for working abroad. Survey respondents in Australia point out that the “ignorance regarding qualifications and experience” as well as the “closed job market” are big issues. In fact, only about half the expats in Australia (54%) are satisfied with their job in Down-Under, compared to nearly seven in ten (68%) in 2016.”

For its annual Expat Insider survey, InterNations asked some 13,000 expatriates representing 166 nationalities and living in 188 countries or territories to provide information on various aspects of expat life, as well as their gender, age, and nationality.

“Participants were asked to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of one to seven. The rating process emphasized the respondents’ personal satisfaction with these aspects and considered both emotional topics as well as more factual aspects with equal weight,” according to the organization.

“The respondents’ ratings of the individual factors were then bundled in various combinations for a total of 16 subcategories, and their mean values were used to draw up six topical indices: quality of life, ease of settling-in, working abroad, family life, personal finance, and cost of living index. Except for the latter, all indices were further averaged in order to rank 65 expatriate destinations around the world,” according to the organization.