Taiwan has again been voted as the best place for expatriates to live, after claiming the top spot three years ago, thanks to its good healthcare, quality of life and job environment, a survey by the expatriate networking Web site InterNations found.
Respondents to the Expat Insider survey by Munich, Germany-based InterNations this year selected Taiwan as the top destination for expatriates, with an overall satisfaction rate of 86 percent from those living in the nation, compared with an average of 75 percent from expatriates living in the other nations surveyed.
Taiwan last year ranked second and fourth in 2017, after topping the survey in 2016.
Photo courtesy of Chen Chi-yuan
The survey asked more than 20,000 expatriates how satisfied they were with their quality of life, ease of settling in, working life, personal finances, cost of living and family life in 64 destinations worldwide.
“Taiwan offers great variety for such a small island. Nature, the culture and the people are very friendly,” said a video on the InterNations Web site introducing the survey.
Taiwan ranked third in quality of life — with 96 percent of respondents in the nation satisfied with the level of personal safety — sixth in personal finances, eighth in working life, 11th in cost of living and 14th in ease of settling in.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
As only 9 percent of respondents were raising children, there were not enough expatriate parents to rank Taiwan in the family life index, InterNations said.
Nearly 92 percent of respondents living in Taiwan agreed that the nation has a high level of medical care, while 89 percent were satisfied with its affordability, the survey showed.
“No other destination has performed better on quality or affordability since Taiwan entered the survey,” InterNations said.
Taiwan ranked second on career prospects for expatriates, with 65 percent of respondents saying that they were satisfied.
The expatriates’ high satisfaction in many areas was somewhat offset by their dissatisfaction with pollution in Taiwan — the nation ranked 35th on quality of the environment — and difficulty learning the local language — 52 percent of respondents said that they were struggling with learning Chinese.
This year’s No. 2 destination for expatriates was Vietnam, followed by Portugal, Mexico, Spain, Singapore, Bahrain, Ecuador, Malaysia and the Czech Republic.
The least favorable destinations were Kuwait, Italy, Nigeria, Brazil, Turkey, India, the UK, Greece, Russia and South Korea.
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