Thailand Ranked Sixth Best Country Worldwide for Expats

[webfact]

Picture courtesy: Wikipedia

 

Thailand has been ranked as the sixth-best country in the world for expats to live and work, according to the latest Expat Insider report from InterNations, the global community for expatriates.

 

The report, which surveyed over 12,500 expatriates in February, revealed that Panama took the top spot out of 53 countries. The survey looked into expat satisfaction based on their quality of life abroad, with the key areas being ease of settling in, working conditions, personal finances, and access to essential services and amenities.

 

Panama emerged as the favourite, with a whopping 82% of its expats expressing happiness with their lives. Expats cited Panama's low cost of living, ease of relocation, and affordable housing as significant factors contributing to their high satisfaction levels. Many respondents moved to Panama for financial reasons, retirement, or to improve their overall quality of life.

 

The top ten countries, following Panama, include Mexico, Indonesia, Spain, Colombia, Thailand, Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates. In Thailand, expats praised the country's welcoming atmosphere, vibrant culture, and relatively low cost of living, making it an attractive destination for those seeking work-life balance.

 

Government Spokesman Chai Wacharonke noted that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has been actively promoting tourism as a key economic strategy since taking office. The government has introduced several initiatives to boost foreign arrivals, such as visa-free entry for selected nationalities and fast-track visas for participants in MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions).

 

These measures are part of a broader effort to create jobs and generate revenue in Thailand's tourism sector, positioning the country as a favourable destination for both tourists and expatriates alike.

 

Thailand's ranking in the Expat Insider report highlights its appeal as an expat-friendly destination, reflecting the positive experiences of those who have chosen to make it their home.

 

-- 2024-07-08

 

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[watchcat]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

In Thailand, expats praised the country's welcoming atmosphere,

 

Ha, especially if you like the Taxi mafia, paying bribes to the RTP, reporting where you live every 90 days, buying alcohol at specific times....

[ikke1959]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

relatively low cost of living,

It was once indeed, but with the current prices it is not so cheap anymore...Look at imported goods just as jam and other products... The prices are often as expensive as in Europe or even higher.. and the wines.... in the EU you pay lower prices for better wines in a restaurant than the quality here from the supermarket. the taxes are making it too expensive....

[Skipalongcassidy]

Here come all the "we hate it in Thailand because we can't get everything that we had in the country we left" crowd.  Reminds me of all the californicators who left the left coast for a better life and brought all their left learning with them and now find themselves inundated in the same type of mess... hahahaha

[thesetat2013]

9 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

It was once indeed, but with the current prices it is not so cheap anymore...Look at imported goods just as jam and other products... The prices are often as expensive as in Europe or even higher.. and the wines.... in the EU you pay lower prices for better wines in a restaurant than the quality here from the supermarket. the taxes are making it too expensive....

They have to put this out there now before they begin taking foreigners money with tax. Then the ratings will go down considerably, if you actually believe this OP anyway. Personally, I do not see how they can print this rubbish knowing full well that at the moment expats are trying to choose whether to stay in Thailand or leave for another country. 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been ranked as the sixth-best country in the world for expats to live and work,

Complete garbage.

[BritManToo]

40 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

It was once indeed, but with the current prices it is not so cheap anymore...Look at imported goods just as jam and other products... The prices are often as expensive as in Europe or even higher.. and the wines.... in the EU you pay lower prices for better wines in a restaurant than the quality here from the supermarket. the taxes are making it too expensive....

The only cost that matters is housing!

Nobody needs a pot of jam, but you do need a place to live.

[redwood1]

Brain dead fluff story....

 

In the past I would agree Thailand was one of the best places to retire....But they have been working hard to make Thailand a more unpleasant place for a while now....Even before this tax insanity..

[JimHuaHin]

Was this research conduced last century?

[Gottfrid]

Hmmm, the weekly report. Just funny that they always take the info from different places. Must be a low and high bidder syndrome.

[rocketboy2]

Guess someone,  has been smoking a very well stacked one. 

[Kerryd]

6 of the 10 countries listed I wouldn't even consider living in. 

A couple are not much of an upgrade from Thailand, depending where you live. 

Keep in mind that "survey" only had just over 12,000 respondents from around the world so not exactly a large sample size. I've seen similar surveys in the past and when you dig deep it turns out their results are based on 2-3 people from one country, 8 or 9 from another, half a dozen from a third country and so on.

And they can simple "massage" the numbers anyway they want to get the result they want of course. (Perhaps depending on who is paying the most for advertising in that magazine for example.)

And keep in mind - most of the respondents are probably people with lots of leisure time - and money. The kind of people who like to read travel magazines to pick where they want to go to on their next vacation.
Money can buy happiness. A lot of it. And the more money you have, the happier you will be. Especially in a foreign country where you can buy a villa and have maids and drivers for less than the cost of an apartment in downtown London or New York.

You're not going to get too many "bar-stool proppers drinking the one small warm glass of the cheapest draft they can afford each day at the closest beer bar" reading travel magazines online and responding to surveys. Those people spend most of their time looking at "footie" scores and watching the exchange rates like a hawk to see if they can squeeze a couple more baht out of this month's pension payment and maybe be able to afford a 2nd beer !

So you aren't likely to get "real world" responses from the "average" everyday kind of expat that (maybe) has enough to get by on but not a lot extra to blow on fancy trips to exotic locations.

And if you did decide to suddenly pack up and move to the Philippines or Panama or Columbia or even Spain - you can bet it would only take a couple months before your realize that the "grass" is just as ugly on that side of the fence. Maybe even moreso. Maybe there's no grass at all.

But now you're committed and probably can't afford to correct your error by moving again.

I've thought about other places that might be nice but you run into the same issues everywhere.
A - you are a foreigner and will be treated as such and not everyone likes foreigners as much as you'd think.
B - you are a foreigner and will have to jump through lots of hoops in order to stay (wherever). No one is going to give you a "golden residence card" with full national privileges just because you have white skin and come from the land of the "big Px" (or Carrefour or Harrods).
C - you are a foreigner and will viewed with suspicion and jealousy because the "locals" will see you spending like a millionaire (by comparison) and think that all your money is magically given to you and never ends.
D - you are a foreigner and will have lots of people trying to take advantage of you - and your money.
E - you are a foreigner and likely can't speak the local language and have no idea about local customs - and laws. 

Note as well that racism is alive and well - in pretty much every country, every continent and every race around the world. 
And far too many "caucasians" travel to foreign countries and automatically assume that they are "superior" to the locals and the locals should be bowing and scraping to them and grateful that those foreigners have even graced their presence.

And that is from people who can barely afford that one cheap glass of warm beer a day.

And then they wonder why they don't "get along" with the locals. Except they don't usually use such a generic term to describe them, do they ? 

Basically, if you can't get along and live a decent life in Thailand, it's not likely you will in any of those other countries either.

[daveAustin]

It was fifth before this pissant bogus Ahole of a government started talking about tax. 

[Thingamabob]

2 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

They have to put this out there now before they begin taking foreigners money with tax. Then the ratings will go down considerably, if you actually believe this OP anyway. Personally, I do not see how they can print this rubbish knowing full well that at the moment expats are trying to choose whether to stay in Thailand or leave for another country. 

For the umpteenth time, the move to tax foreign remittances etc. is only  at the proposal stage. It may never happen.

[retarius]

In that case I am glad I picked it. 6th, where is number #1? I do find it relatively expensive and don't know how other expats manage but I eat no Thai food at all and pretty much all of my diet is Western with high import duties.

 

The shortage of money that this spendthrift government will need for all its gimmicks alarms me. The guy directly above me thinks extra taxes for expats are only a 'proposal'. But when I came Thailand was a low debt nation, the junta transformed it into a high debt nation, and now the buffoon in charge is desperate for extra revenue to pay for his airfares. I am not taking any chances with the tax, I will live in Thailand only so long each year to be non-resident for tax purposes.

When PT are through in government, the next government will be unable to borrow at reasonable rates because of poor debt to GDP ratio,.....then the proverbial poop will really hit the fan. I'm hoping to be dead by then 🙂

[john donson]

TAT money at work... clean air? safe roads? friendly neighbors?  safe pesticide free food ? taxes? free healthcare ?

[brianthainess]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The only cost that matters is housing!

Nobody needs a pot of jam, but you do need a place to live.

And there is cheap jam, not expensive imported and comes in a glass mug so free glass. 

 

 

[ikke1959]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The only cost that matters is housing!

Nobody needs a pot of jam, but you do need a place to live.

just an example....Thailand was cheap, but not anymore.... even housing is getting more expensive and with housing only I will not live long, I have to eat and enjoy live a bit too...So with the expensive tax on imported goods, the coming income tax it will not be one of the best places to live in anymore... And if you want to know I pay here for a jar of jam double of what I would pay in Europe...and for Dolce Gusto coffeepads I pay here 100 THB than in EU... I have a house but I can't live from the wind

[jimgilly]

Interesting that most replies are negative about Thailand being #6.   Actually, I'll start a new topic on the positives vs the negatives of living in Thailand and compare the number of responses both positive and negative.

[newnative]

4 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

It was once indeed, but with the current prices it is not so cheap anymore...Look at imported goods just as jam and other products... The prices are often as expensive as in Europe or even higher.. and the wines.... in the EU you pay lower prices for better wines in a restaurant than the quality here from the supermarket. the taxes are making it too expensive....

     You're citing items of relatively small expense, jam, for heaven's sake, while ignoring the really big ticket items, like keeping a roof over your head, utilities, real estate taxes, homeowner maintenance fees, and so on.  

     Twelve years ago, I was renting out my small 1 bedroom USA condo for $1500 a month, about 54,000 baht.  You can rent a 1 bedroom condo in Thailand most places for 15,000 baht a month.  Of course, condos for less or more can be found depending on your budget and location.  That 39,000 baht savings will buy a lot of jam and wine each month.

    That same small USA condo is now valued by Zillow at $273,000, about 9.8 million baht.  Should you choose to own rather than rent, you can easiy find 1 bedroom condos most places in Thailand for 3MB or less, leaving much more money in the bank compared to purchasing that USA condo.  Monthly condo maintenance fees, and taxes, will be far less, too.  Again, more money for jam and wine.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

just an example....Thailand was cheap, but not anymore.... even housing is getting more expensive and with housing only I will not live long, I have to eat and enjoy live a bit too...So with the expensive tax on imported goods, the coming income tax it will not be one of the best places to live in anymore... And if you want to know I pay here for a jar of jam double of what I would pay in Europe...and for Dolce Gusto coffeepads I pay here 100 THB than in EU... I have a house but I can't live from the wind

My (her) mortgage on a 3 bed detached house is 10kbht/month, back in the UK a rented room in a shared house would cost double that.

There is no need for anyone to buy imported goods, make your own jam and it costs almost nothing, plenty of coffee shops charging 25bht a cup, no need for an imported machine and filters.

 

As for taxing our foreign incomes ...... it'll never happen!

 

[rice555]

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The only cost that matters is housing!

Nobody needs a pot of jam, but you do need a place to live.

The jam I buy here is about 60Bt. cheaper than in the US.

[daveAustin]

Many things are more expensive than the West but overall it’s still cheaper. I’d still be here if it were more expensive… can’t handle the constant politics, wokeness, seriousness, crap weather and that whole staid culture no more

[ikke1959]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My (her) mortgage on a 3 bed detached house is 10kbht/month, back in the UK a rented room in a shared house would cost double that.

There is no need for anyone to buy imported goods, make your own jam and it costs almost nothing, plenty of coffee shops charging 25bht a cup, no need for an imported machine and filters.

 

As for taxing our foreign incomes ...... it'll never happen!

 

living in a dreamworld?? What do you eat for breakfast? only bread? Make your own jam... Have you seen the prices of strawberries??   Some people have no clue .. but you can eat your rice no problem for me

[ikke1959]

6 hours ago, newnative said:

     You're citing items of relatively small expense, jam, for heaven's sake, while ignoring the really big ticket items, like keeping a roof over your head, utilities, real estate taxes, homeowner maintenance fees, and so on.  

     Twelve years ago, I was renting out my small 1 bedroom USA condo for $1500 a month, about 54,000 baht.  You can rent a 1 bedroom condo in Thailand most places for 15,000 baht a month.  Of course, condos for less or more can be found depending on your budget and location.  That 39,000 baht savings will buy a lot of jam and wine each month.

    That same small USA condo is now valued by Zillow at $273,000, about 9.8 million baht.  Should you choose to own rather than rent, you can easiy find 1 bedroom condos most places in Thailand for 3MB or less, leaving much more money in the bank compared to purchasing that USA condo.  Monthly condo maintenance fees, and taxes, will be far less, too.  Again, more money for jam and wine.

I live in a nice house with 4 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms, fully owned and paid.... so I don't know what you are talking about.. I never have rented...But for a drinkable wine I want to pay but not for the crap here... and be fair, with all the high taxed products we don't contribute enough because with the tax law many will leave, as they will surely implement it.. The Government is in need of money and foreigners with their incomes can pay  a lot..And Do you like to pay overcharged prices anyway??

[steven100]

As I've said before,  I consider Vietnam much better than Thailand in different aspects,  but not all.    Thailand has some good points,  although they're getting less and less each year.

[BritManToo]

41 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

living in a dreamworld?? What do you eat for breakfast? only bread? Make your own jam... Have you seen the prices of strawberries??   Some people have no clue .. but you can eat your rice no problem for me

I had roast pork and baked potato in its jacket covered in Tesco onion gravy yesterday. Today is roast pork sandwiches. Breakfast was honey yogurt and Japanese Nissin fruit granola.

[BE88]

11 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The only cost that matters is housing!

Nobody needs a pot of jam, but you do need a place to live.

 

No my jar of jam and sacred in the morning for my breakfast.

Luckily we have different tastes when it comes to food.

😁

[rickudon]

As quite a few have said - housing is the big cost in our home countries. In the UK, renting a one bedroom flat anywhere in the south will cost you near 1,000 GBP a month (or more). But ... you also have Council Tax, house insurance, TV licence, Internet as well as Utility bills. So actual 'housing' costs are actually around 1250 GBP and up. This would represent around about 80% of my pension. Running a car also expensive - 50-100 GBP a month on top. Other transport costs also high. 

 

I suppose if i was still in the UK i could still afford Tesco value baked beans on toast 3 times a day, but that would be it.

 

In Thailand my living costs are about one third of the UK. Negatives - yes foreign food is more expensive, but you can find substitutes - if you keep looking can find many items at similar costs to UK - Jam - i make my own, frozen strawberries and sugar are cheap, i make 4 jars for about the same price as one jar of imported stuff and tastes better too. Wife makes good burgers patties, just hard to find good buns. Even found Muesli at 150 baht a kilo. The big negatives are the heat and humidity, somewhat counterbalancing the cold in the UK; and the big elephant in the room, Healthcare. Is Thailand perfect - far from it, but where is. And the 20 year younger wife a bonus too.

[newnative]

15 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

I live in a nice house with 4 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms, fully owned and paid.... so I don't know what you are talking about.. I never have rented...But for a drinkable wine I want to pay but not for the crap here... and be fair, with all the high taxed products we don't contribute enough because with the tax law many will leave, as they will surely implement it.. The Government is in need of money and foreigners with their incomes can pay  a lot..And Do you like to pay overcharged prices anyway??

      I think you mis-read my post, which referred to both renters and owners--who both save lots of money living here.  I, too, own my house, fully paid for and bought last year.  The house, a 3 bedroom 4 bath with pool outside of Pattaya, cost me 6.5MB.  About $180, 000.  That's less than the small 1 bedroom 1 bath condo I owned in the US, which is now worth $235,000.   

     So, living here, I have much larger space to live in, with my own pool, for much less money.  Buying my large house here, instead of that small 1 bedroom condo in the US, saved me about $55,000.  Had I tried to buy a 3 bedroom with pool in the US, the savings would be even more here in comparison--in the town where I lived in the US, 3 bedroom single family homes are $500,000 and up.

      My response to the poster complaining about the high cost of jam and wine remains valid.  Instead of laser-focusing on relatively small cost items like jam, it's important to look at the savings you achieve here on the big ticket items, especially housing.  I think it's likely that your 4 bedroom house here in Thailand cost less than a 4 bedroom in your home country, and likely costs less to run each year here when real estate taxes, HOA fees, maintenance costs, and utilities are factored in.  

     Of course, nobody likes to pay high prices on products we buy.  But, it's important to look at the big picture.  As I said in my earlier post, the savings you achieve on the big ticket items like housing pays for a lot of small ticket items like jam and wine.