Thailand drops in ranking of best places for expats - but which country is number 1?

[webfact]

Thailand drops in ranking of best places for expats - but which country is number 1?

 

 

Thailand is less popular as a destination for expats compared to one year ago, according to the latest Expat Insider survey.

 

Published Thursday, the Expat Insider 2019 survey ranks the best places in the world to live as an expat. 

 

The survey ranked Thailand in 25th place out of 64 destinations, a fall of seven places from the same survey carried out in 2018.

 

From 7 to 28 March, InterNations, the world’s largest expat networking group, surveyed a total of 20,259 expats, representing 182 nationalities, living in 187 countries or territories. 

 

Respondents were asked to score a total of 48 different factors concerning various aspects of living abroad.  

 

The results were then used to form a score in five main areas: Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Family Life, and Personal Finance.

 

Thailand still affordable and good for those looking for love

 

While Thailand received middling results in most categories, it did score highly in the Relationships & Romance category, where it was ranked 4th best destination for dating and finding love. 

 

Despite its drop in the rankings, Thailand also scored highly when it came to expats recommending Thailand to friends and colleagues. 

 

It also scored well in the Personal Finance category (13) where respondents were asked to rate their financial situation and their disposable household income with regard to covering all living expenses.

 

Some of the categories where Thailand scored poorly included Safety & Security (45), Digital Life (46), Economic & Job Security (37) and Language Barrier (44).

 

Overall Taiwan was ranked as the best destination for expats due to the high quality of life, good personal finances and great working life. It ranked best in the world for affordable and high quality healthcare. 

 

Nearly all expats in Taiwan rate the quality (92%) and affordability (89%) of medical positively - no other destination has performed better for either factor since Taiwan entered the survey.

 

"The health insurance system and safety are what makes Taiwan attractive to me," said an Indian expat. 

 

A Canadian expat living in Taiwan told InterNations: "I love that Taiwan is safe like Japan but with a wild freedom like Vietnam."

 

The biggest obstacle for expats living in Taiwan was the language barrier, with more than 50 percent of expats reporting difficulties in both learning and communicating in Mandarin. 

 

In second place was Vietnam, which has been the subject of increased discussion (both good and bad) amongst expats commenting on the Thaivisa forum and Facebook page.

 

Of Vietnam, the survey said: “There seems to be no better place for finances and working abroad than Vietnam: it ranks first in both indices.

 

“Together with the improved ratings for quality of life and ease of settling in, this means it reaches the top 3 for the first time, ranking second overall”.

 

Vietnam also scored favourably for friendliness, with a Swiss expat saying “the people are amazing”.

 

However, pollution was a concern for a British expat: “I don’t like the traffic, pollution, and bad public transport systems”.

 

Portugal, which was ranked 3rd overall was the country that respondents are most likely to recommend for expat life. It also scored well for feeling at home and friendliness, while the local attitude towards foreign residents was also good. 

 

The release of the survey comes at a time when Thaivisa has received an increasing number of posts from expats who claim they are considering their future in Thailand and from others who are actively looking to relocate to other countries or return to their home country.

 

How many of those users posting actually make the move to pastures new is unclear but there are active discussions taking place on the forum for expats in Thailand considering moving to the likes of Vietnam, Latin America and Europe.

 

Read the report in full here: 

 

https://cms-internationsgmbh.netdna-ssl.com/cdn/file/cms-media/public/2019-09/Expat-Insider-2019_The-InterNations-Survey_0.pdf

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-09-06

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[3421abc]

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco. However I am surprised VIETNAM is NUMBER 2!!!!!!!!! My rental contract ends in mid February and I am seriously thinking of moving to HCMC. Great to see Vietnam rising to the top. I tried to move to Taiwan 2 yrs ago but visa was difficult and I am not a fan of earthquakes.

Edited September 6, 2019 by 3421abc

[PatOngo]

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand drops in ranking of best places for expats

The authorities will be pleased with that! Their plan is working!

[sweatalot]

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand is less popular as a destination for expats

What a surprise - Not?

They must have heard about TM 30

[Fred31]

44 minutes ago, 3421abc said:

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco. However I am surprised VIETNAM is NUMBER 2!!!!!!!!! My rental contract ends in mid February and I am seriously thinking of moving to HCMC. Great to see Vietnam rising to the top. I tried to move to Taiwan 2 yrs ago but visa was difficult and I am not a fan of earthquakes.

Hanoi or Hue maybe nicer

[the guest]

Nobody is recommending Thailand at all. The country has become too hostile towards foreigners, and it's too expensive. 

 

Please stop spreading fake news that Thailand is popular, its not !

[WeekendRaider]

Thailand wins hands down.  rural Thailand.  show me where I am wrong.  aside from having to acquire the lower diglossia, the pluses outweigh all comers even if you have plenty of money by western standards and can choose where to live such as maybe rural Vermont, places like that.

self sufficiency.  food.  self policing.  a sense that folks treat everyone as family, generally.  where the village takes care of just about everything.    

water.  we will be okay for consumption, even during more pervasive and intense ENSO conditions.  no journal literature I have seen is not optimistic overall for northern Thailand and maybe Issan too, in a general way versus the rest of the........ planet.  to top it off,  where I live the Thai government just announced a new reservoir.  and except for the klong in my village that is lower than the exit pipe that heads out to the paddy, in recent years many improvements.  

housing is DIY or local labor, and we are able to quickly adapt for Climate Change.  no ridiculous permits needed.  and doing projects to get ready for what will come soon enough is really important now.  in 2019.  it's getting real obvious.  Rosenfeld et. al. in February Science, Mandy Freund et. al in Nat Geosci May 2019 and that July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded, and 2019 was barely above a neutral ENSO condition.

the only serous minus is that the grid probably won't hold up in any kind of serious heat wave.  what was true for Chicago in 1995, New York City in 2019 and Texas in recent weeks is likely to also unfold anywhere else.  and in my village we drop down to 170 volts quite often and have almost daily blackouts.  that's now and notwithstanding it is a local political thing and merely a new transformer is needed, it doesn't ring very good.  but grid failures are a different thing entirely. in heatwaves they could last for days or weeks and today everyone uses electric water pumps.  and fans and water will be critical.  critical.  but this one for your own family situation obviously can be mitigated.  it's that it may be a larger issue for many other folks that it becomes the only warning light I see going forward, even if we face the worst situations quite readily such as a recurrence of the 2015-2016 ENSO.  but the Thai government has done quite a few projects where I live to prepare for most of that, just not how villages will power the water pumps that fill the towers.  solar of course.  

 

and one trap for the unwary (unread).  air con is not an answer.  get along without that one.  it is not a good thing to lean on at all.  we need to adopt to higher temperatures.  solar and batteries drop performance wise in 40 plus C temperatures.  and the other solutions are more resilient and helpful for surviving heat.  and to be ready for both dry heat waves and wet bulb ones.  different problems and different solutions.   but those can be covered... and we will need to do that almost anywhere you live even if The Woz is your neighbor down there in whatever that island is off of Australia.
   

      


 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by WeekendRaider

[dbrenn]

Best country rankings like these are so subjective. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Edited September 6, 2019 by dbrenn

[PatOngo]

35 minutes ago, Fred31 said:

Hanoi or Hue maybe nicer

Both nice places.

[DrTuner]

Would be nice to be able to filter the results. Like in "do you speak mandarin or not?".

[timendres]

13 minutes ago, WeekendRaider said:

Thailand wins hands down.  rural Thailand.  show me where I am wrong.

It is difficult to debate with someone who is clearly tripping.

[alex8912]

Why in the real world are expats hard working , high salary people living abroad and in Thailand many think a down and out guy in Isarn is one? 

 

[bkk6060]

36 minutes ago, the guest said:

Nobody is recommending Thailand at all. The country has become too hostile towards foreigners, and it's too expensive. 

That is you talking about you.

It has become too expensive for you, the guest.

I still find it quite inexpensive 1/4 of my home country costs.

Edited September 6, 2019 by bkk6060

[alex8912]

16 minutes ago, WeekendRaider said:

Thailand wins hands down.  rural Thailand.  show me where I am wrong.  aside from having to acquire the lower diglossia, the pluses outweigh all comers even if you have plenty of money by western standards and can choose where to live such as maybe rural Vermont, places like that.

self sufficiency.  food.  self policing.  a sense that folks treat everyone as family, generally.  where the village takes care of just about everything.    

water.  we will be okay for consumption, even during more pervasive and intense ENSO conditions.  no journal literature I have seen is not optimistic overall for northern Thailand and maybe Issan too, in a general way versus the rest of the........ planet.  to top it off,  where I live the Thai government just announced a new reservoir.  and except for the klong in my village that is lower than the exit pipe that heads out to the paddy, in recent years many improvements.  

housing is DIY or local labor, and we are able to quickly adapt for Climate Change.  no ridiculous permits needed.  and doing projects to get ready for what will come soon enough is really important now.  in 2019.  it's getting real obvious.  Rosenfeld et. al. in February Science, Mandy Freund et. al in Nat Geosci May 2019 and that July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded, and 2019 was barely above a neutral ENSO condition.

the only serous minus is that the grid probably won't hold up in any kind of serious heat wave.  what was true for Chicago in 1995, New York City in 2019 and Texas in recent weeks is likely to also unfold anywhere else.  and in my village we drop down to 170 volts quite often and have almost daily blackouts.  that's now and notwithstanding it is a local political thing and merely a new transformer is needed, it doesn't ring very good.  but grid failures are a different thing entirely. in heatwaves they could last for days or weeks and today everyone uses electric water pumps.  and fans and water will be critical.  critical.  but this one for your own family situation obviously can be mitigated.  it's that it may be a larger issue for many other folks that it becomes the only warning light I see going forward, even if we face the worst situations quite readily such as a recurrence of the 2015-2016 ENSO.  but the Thai government has done quite a few projects where I live to prepare for most of that, just not how villages will power the water pumps that fill the towers.  solar of course.  

 

and one trap for the unwary (unread).  air con is not an answer.  get along without that one.  it is not a good thing to lean on at all.  we need to adopt to higher temperatures.  solar and batteries drop performance wise in 40 plus C temperatures.  and the other solutions are more resilient and helpful for surviving heat.  and to be ready for both dry heat waves and wet bulb ones.  different problems and different solutions.   but those can be covered... and we will need to do that almost anywhere you live even if The Woz is your neighbor down there in whatever that island is off of Australia.
   

      


 

 

You lost me at rural Vermont. 

[Old Croc]

I have trouble understanding how Italy is ranked second bottom, just below Nigeria.

[ThailandGuy]

I can only second this. 10-15 years ago everybody I know still would advice Thailand. Now the opposite is true. They don't even think about mentioning it.  Negativism about Thailand is getting the overhand. Thailand the land of smiles lost its smile or at least showing it's smile of the worst kind.

[BobbyL]

As a real expat that is living and working here legally then it offers a lot of positives. My salary is higher here than in England and I get extra benefits that I wouldn't get back home (bonus, flights, housing allowance etc).

 

For people who are retired or trying to wing it here on tourists visas then this study isn't really for you. The only thing that has massively annoyed me over the last year or so has been the TM30 nonsense, whereas the high BHT and low GBP has been great for me. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by BobbyL

[toenail]

Taiwan with a “language barrier”-??? I find Thailand to be worse. Understand ably the further you get away from the capital city or in the rural area the locals  cannot speak English- but even in the tourist towns the English is limited.  I found the young generation in Taiwan more capable speaking English compared to Thais. -but the Taiwan youth want to learn English ( unlike the majority of Thai students.  But the education system is totally different along with the Taiwanese being more “high tec-savvy “ Most Thais only know about Youtube & Facebook.  Using their phones for research or  learning about world events is rare.)

[Thailand]

Another one for TAT to spin. Thailand, better than Nigeria for expats, does not quite have a ring to it.

 

[DrTuner]

31 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

You lost me at rural Vermont. 

I dunno. Give me a banjo and a shotgun and I might like Isaan.

[bristolgeoff]

That had the golden egg and slowly slowly destroyed it.neighbours are taking the farang towards them.i know many who moved to their neighbours.making visas harder expensive more paperwork.strong baht for expats who decided to live they life out there.so many,maybe they will smell the coffee when many of the expats go and the tourist don t come.

[PatOngo]

20 minutes ago, toenail said:

Taiwan with a “language barrier”-??? I find Thailand to be worse. Understand ably the further you get away from the capital city or in the rural area the locals  cannot speak English- but even in the tourist towns the English is limited.  I found the young generation in Taiwan more capable speaking English compared to Thais. -but the Taiwan youth want to learn English ( unlike the majority of Thai students.  But the education system is totally different along with the Taiwanese being more “high tec-savvy “ Most Thais only know about Youtube & Facebook.  Using their phones for research or  learning about world events is rare.)

I worked in Taiwan about 12 years ago, I found them to be not very friendly.

[jumbo]

Thailand is still no. 1.. for real expats that make some money and less attractive for pensioners on a few bucks... what's new???

 

[crazykopite]

I am not surprised Thailand has dropped to 17 I expect it to be down in the 20s next year as there are far to many restrictions 90 day reporting TM30 if you don’t sleep in your own bed , having to leave a certain amount of money in the bank, not allowed to buy a house in your own name and that’s just for starters.

[leggo]

2 hours ago, 3421abc said:

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco. However I am surprised VIETNAM is NUMBER 2!!!!!!!!! My rental contract ends in mid February and I am seriously thinking of moving to HCMC. Great to see Vietnam rising to the top. I tried to move to Taiwan 2 yrs ago but visa was difficult and I am not a fan of earthquakes.

I've lived in Vietnam  for four years and whilst I appreciate the friendly people and it is a cheap place to live the noise, pollution and chaos on the roads are not positive. And the wholesale destruction of all their beaches- not good. Thai food is way better!

[outsider]

2 hours ago, PatOngo said:

The authorities will be pleased with that! Their plan is working!

 

Thailand wasn't even in the top 10 last year, and it's fallen seven rungs since then! While its neighbours - Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam are all in the top 10.

 

Like what you said, this is probably what the authorities wanted. Won't be surprised if they're breaking out their Samsongs and Regencies and slapping each other's backs saying "It's finally working!"

 

[legend49]

15 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

I am not surprised Thailand has dropped to 17 I expect it to be down in the 20s next year as there are far to many restrictions 90 day reporting TM30 if you don’t sleep in your own bed , having to leave a certain amount of money in the bank, not allowed to buy a house in your own name and that’s just for starters.

????? 17th . We reading the same table I see 25th!

[outsider]

57 minutes ago, ThailandGuy said:

I can only second this. 10-15 years ago everybody I know still would advice Thailand. Now the opposite is true. They don't even think about mentioning it.  Negativism about Thailand is getting the overhand. Thailand the land of smiles lost its smile or at least showing it's smile of the worst kind.

 

Land of Smirks now, me thinks

[Crusader]

18 minutes ago, jumbo said:

Thailand is still no. 1.. for real expats that make some money and less attractive for pensioners on a few bucks... what's new???

 

Have to agree with this one...met many retirees, especially in Pattaya and Hua Hin, just eking out an existence. Cannot be much fun having to count the pennies all the time.

[michael888]

2 hours ago, sweatalot said:

What a surprise - Not?

They must have heard about TM 30

And general hatred of foreigners, dual pricing in hospitals, denial of visas, etc...