Expatriates in search of friendship and love find it more easily in Asia than anywhere else in the world, especially if they move to Thailand, a survey revealed yesterday.
Asia claimed the top five friendliest places for expatriates to live — Thailand, followed by Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Brunei — in the second annual Expat Experience survey, commissioned by HSBC Bank International.
Taiwan was not included in the survey.
The least friendly place for expatriates to live is Belgium, followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Japan, the survey of 3,146 people working in 30 different industries and 26 countries found.
When it comes to serious relationships, expatriates in Thailand are more likely than their counterparts anywhere else in the world to find love, with almost half of all expatriates finding partners there.
Globally, one in five expatriates said they found love overseas. Germany and Brazil were the second and third most likely places to find a long-term partner.
The least romantic destinations for expatriates are India and Qatar where just 4 percent find love while living there, researchers found.
When it comes to integrating, expatriates tend to stick with their own and not mix with the local community, the survey found, although locals and expatriates mix better in some countries.
Brazil was the place where they are most likely to mix, with 94 percent of expatriates saying they make local friends easily, followed by Canada, South Africa, India and Russia.
Expatriates in the Middle East, especially those living in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, were found to be the least likely to make friends with locals.
QUALITY OF LIFE
The survey revealed that expats in Canada have the best quality of life and found it among the easiest places in the world to integrate with the local population.
Australia and Thailand rounded out the top three in terms of quality of life, even though Thailand was one of the countries worst-hit by the recession for expats.
“We have seen that there is a distinct trade-off between income and overall quality of life, as many of the top performers ... scored towards the bottom of this report’s league table [of the best places to make and save money],” said Betony Taylor, spokeswoman for HSBC Bank International.
Last year Germany, Canada and Spain were the top three countries deemed to have the best lifestyle for expats.
This year Britain was one of the lowest ranked locations when it came to lifestyle after being named as one of the most expensive places for expats with the recession taking its toll.
About 44 percent of expats in Britain are considering returning home, compared with only 15 percent of expats overall.
About 41 percent of expats in Britain find it difficult to find somewhere to live, most find the quality of their accommodation drops after moving to Britain, and a third claim their health has deteriorated since moving there.
“Despite this, the UK does hold the crown for being expat entertainment capital of the world, with over half [58 percent] of expats in the UK saying that the quality of entertainment had increased,” Taylor said.
She added that 62 percent of expats also said that employment prospects were the main reason keeping them in the region.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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