What is the world’s most expat-friendly country?

Costa Rica is the world’s most expat-friendly country according to a new survey on living and working abroad. We take a look at the results

The world’s most expat-friendly countries have been ranked in the latest survey from InterNations, the largest global community of people who live and work abroad.

Costa Rica was ranked first with expats reporting the country is friendly, welcoming and an easy place to make friends.

Other countries that performed well were Mexico, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil.

At the other end of the spectrum, Austria, Finland, Germany and Norway all performed poorly with Kuwait named the country where expats find it hardest to settle in.

Now in its 11th year, the Expat Insider survey is the largest of its kind. InterNations draws on its 5.4 million members and surveys over 12,500 expats from 175 nationalities living in 174 countries or territories.

The survey features the Ease of Settling In Index which assesses 53 countries and territories around the world. Respondents in each destination answered questions about their experiences as foreign residents living there.

The Ease of Settling In Index is based on three subcategories with two to three rating factors each:

• Local Friendliness is based on locals’ friendliness in general and towards expats, specifically.
• Finding Friends looks if expats have a personal support network, if they are happy with their social life, and if making local friends is easy.
• Culture & Welcome covers the ease of adapting to the local culture, the sense of being welcomed and the feeling of home.

What makes Costa Rica the most expat-friendly country?

Costa Rica was named the most expat-friendly country in 2024. The country ranked first for two of the three subcategories and is placed in the top 10 across all factors of the index.

Eighty-eight per cent of expats in Costa Rica reported feeling extremely welcome (compared to 63% globally) and 83% said they felt at home (versus 58% globally) in the Central American nation.

Over a third (35%) of expats also said it’s easy to get used to the local culture with over a third agreeing with this point, compared to 21% globally.

Additionally, expats rated the local population as the friendliest in the world In fact, 90% of respondents favourably rated the general friendliness of locals (versus 63% globally) and friendliness towards foreign residents (versus 61% globally).

“The locals are generally gentle, lovely people. You learn to adapt to a ‘Pura Vida’ life in Costa Rica.”

– Canadian expat in Costa Rica

A significant portion of expats in Costa Rica reported enjoying a personal support network (71% versus 55% globally) and a fulfilling social life (67% versus 52%).

Almost three in five (58%) agree that finding local friends is easy, 20 percentage points above the worldwide average of 38%.

Finally, expats in Costa Rica are less likely to be friends with just other expats with just 26% saying their friends are mostly local residents which is almost noticeably lower than the global average (37%).

“Social connections seem important to people here, so they are eager to make new friends, including expats.”

– US expat in Mexico

Key findings from the survey

• Overall, Costa Rica is the world’s most expat-friendly country, topping three of the four subcategories and coming second in the other.
• Expats find Mexico the easiest country to make friends in.
• After Costa Rica, expats find Indonesia and Brazil the friendliest destinations to live.
• Expats find Kuwait the hardest country to settle in.
• Nine of the bottom 10 are European countries.
• Generally, the Nordic countries continue to perform badly when it comes to ease of settling in.
• Half of the top 10 countries in the Ease of Settling In Index can be found in Central and South America: Brazil (5th), Panama (7th) and Colombia (8th) join Costa Rica (1st) and Mexico (2nd).
• Three Southeast Asian countries are in the top 10: the Philippines (3rd), Indonesia (4th) and Thailand (6th).

Ranked: expat-friendly countries

Respondents rated various factors in each subcategory on a scale from one (very bad) to seven (very good). These were then compiled to create the below ranking of the countries where expats find it easiest to settle, AKA The Ease of Settling In Index.

1. Costa Rica
2. Mexico
3. Philippines
4. Indonesia
5. Brazil
6. Thailand
7. Panama
8. Colombia
9. Kenya
10. Greece
11. Spain
12. Oman
13. Vietnam
14. Egypt
15. Portugal
16. UAE
17. Cyprus
18. Bahrain
19. China
20. Australia

“I love the free and easy lifestyle. Everybody is open for a chat.”

– British expat in the Philippines

21. New Zealand
22. Qatar
23. South Africa
24. Malaysia
25. Saudi Arabia
26. India
27. Hong Kong
28. USA
29. Ireland
30. Singapore
31. Belgium
32. Malta
33. Italy
34. France
35. Japan
36. South Korea
37. Poland
38. Luxembourg
39. Canada
40. Türkiye

“No matter how advanced my Norwegian language skills are, I still can’t seem to make Norwegian friends.”

– Kenyan expat in Norway

41. Netherlands
42. UK
43. Chile
44. Hungary
45. Denmark
46. Switzerland
47. Czechia
48. Sweden
49. Austria
50. Finland
51. Germany
52. Norway
53. Kuwait

“It’s hard to make friends with Germans, as they usually have their circle of friends from kindergarten or school.”

– Czech expat in Germany

Rank	Culture & Welcome	Local Friendliness	Finding Friends
1	Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Mexico
2	Mexico	Indonesia	Philippines
3	Philippines	Brazil	Panama
4	Indonesia	Philippines	Indonesia
5	Brazil	Vietnam	Costa Rica
6	Spain	Mexico	Brazil
7	Thailand	Colombia	Kenya
8	Panama	Oman	Thailand
9	Greece	Thailand	Greece
10	Colombia	Egypt	Spain
11	Portugal	Kenya	Colombia
12	Oman	Greece	Egypt
13	UAE	Panama	South Africa
14	Kenya	Spain	Oman
15	Vietnam	Portugal	Vietnam
16	Cyprus	UAE	China
17	Australia	New Zealand	Cyprus
18	New Zealand	China	Bahrain
19	Qatar	Ireland	Portugal
20	Bahrain	Australia	Hong Kong

Rank	Culture & Welcome	Local Friendliness	Finding Friends
21	Hong Kong	Bahrain	India
22	Egypt	Cyprus	UAE
23	Saudi Arabia	Qatar	Qatar
24	South Africa	Malaysia	Malaysia
25	Malaysia	India	Saudi Arabia
26	USA	Saudi Arabia	New Zealand
27	China	USA	Australia
28	France	South Africa	Singapore
29	Belgium	Japan	Malta
30	Singapore	Canada	Belgium
31	Italy	South Korea	USA
32	Ireland	Belgium	Türkiye
33	Luxembourg	Netherlands	Poland
34	UK	Singapore	France
35	Canada	Malta	South Korea
36	Poland	Luxembourg	Italy
37	Malta	Italy	Chile
38	Netherlands	Türkiye	Ireland
39	India	Hong Kong	Japan
40	Japan	Poland	Czechia

Rank	Culture & Welcome	Local Friendliness	Finding Friends
41	South Korea	UK	UK
42	Türkiye	France	Austria
43	Chile	Chile	Hungary
44	Denmark	Hungary	Netherlands
45	Switzerland	Denmark	Luxembourg
46	Austria	Switzerland	Canada
47	Czechia	Sweden	Denmark
48	Hungary	Finland	Switzerland
49	Sweden	Germany	Sweden
50	Norway	Norway	Germany
51	Finland	Czechia	Norway
52	Germany	Austria	Finland
53	Kuwait	Kuwait	Kuwait

More rankings and articles can be found in our remote work area:

► Most dangerous countries in the world
► Countries with the best healthcare in the world
► World’s worst countries to drive in
► Most peaceful countries in the world
► Best countries for women
► Poorest countries in the world – ranked
► Happiest countries in the world
► World’s most powerful passport
► Most stressed countries in the world
► Most expensive cities for expats
► World’s most democratic countries

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Lead image: galtza/123RF