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

Mexico 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.

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

Other countries that performed well were Brazil, the Philippines, Panama and Kenya. At the other end of the spectrum, South Korea, Germany, Denmark and Austria all performed poorly with Kuwait the country where expats find it hardest to settle.

Now in its 10th year, the Expat Insider survey is the largest of its kind. InterNations draws on its 4.7 million members and surveys over 12,000 expats from 171 nationalities living in 172 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 Mexico the most expat-friendly country?

Mexico was named the most expat-friendly country for the fifth year in a row and has been in the top three countries since 2014.

An impressive 82% of respondents said they feel at home in Mexico which is 20 percentage points above the global average of 62%. Around nine in 10 also feel welcome there (89% vs. 67% globally) and rate the general friendliness of local residents positively (91% vs. 67% globally).

Almost three-quarters (74%) are happy with their social life (vs. 56% globally). The same share (74%) said that making local friends is easy in Mexico (vs. 43% globally).

Finally, expats in Mexico are less likely to be friends with just other expats with 31% saying their friends are mostly local residents which is almost double the global average (17%).

Key findings from the survey

• Overall, Mexico is the world’s most expat-friendly country, topping three of the four subcategories and coming second in the other.
• Expats find Panama the easiest country to make friends in.
• After Mexico, expats find Brazil and the Philippines the friendliest destinations to live.
• Expats find Kuwait the hardest country to settle in.
• Seven of the bottom 10 are European countries.
• With the exception of Finland, the Nordic countries continue to perform badly.
• Finland is the biggest improver, rising 13 places to drag itself out of the bottom 10 to 31st place this year.
• Luxembourg has gained 12 places to 34th place.
• Hungary has dropped 13 places to 36th position while Taiwan plummeted 11 places to drop out of the top 10 into 17th position.

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.

The Ease of Settling In Index also includes three subcategories:

• Culture & Welcome
• Local Friendliness
• Finding Friends

Rank	Ease of Settling In	Culture & Welcome	Local Friendliness	Finding Friends
1	Mexico	Mexico	Mexico	Panama
2	Brazil	Panama	Brazil	Mexico
3	Philippines	Philippines	Philippines	Kenya
4	Panama	Brazil	Indonesia	Brazil
5	Kenya	Greece	Vietnam	Philippines
6	Indonesia	Spain	Oman	Bahrain
7	Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Costa Rica
8	Greece	Portugal	Thailand	Greece
9	Bahrain	Kenya	Kenya	Indonesia
10	Oman	Indonesia	Greece	Malaysia
11	Thailand	Bahrain	Panama	Vietnam
12	Spain	Thailand	Colombia	Thailand
13	Portugal	Oman	Portugal	Oman
14	Vietnam	UAE	Malaysia	Spain
15	Malaysia	Malaysia	Bahrain	Portugal
16	Colombia	Vietnam	Spain	Colombia
17	Taiwan	Colombia	Taiwan	Taiwan
18	UAE	Ireland	UAE	China
19	Ireland	Taiwan	Ireland	Cyprus
20	Cyprus	Australia	India	South Africa
21	Australia	Cyprus	Cyprus	UAE
22	India	Canada	Australia	Hong Kong
23	Canada	USA	Canada	Malta
24	USA	Luxembourg	USA	India
25	China	Finland	China	Ireland
26	Malta	France	Türkiye	Australia
27	Türkiye	Italy	Finland	Türkiye
28	Italy	Malta	New Zealand	USA
29	Hong Kong	Türkiye	Italy	Italy
30	South Africa	India	Netherlands	Czechia
31	Finland	UK	Saudi Arabia	Hungary
32	Saudi Arabia	Qatar	UK	Canada
33	France	Hong Kong	Malta	Qatar
34	Luxembourg	South Africa	Qatar	Saudi Arabia
35	Qatar	New Zealand	Hong Kong	France
36	Hungary	Saudi Arabia	Japan	Singapore
37	New Zealand	Hungary	Poland	Luxembourg
38	UK	China	Hungary	Finland
39	Poland	Poland	France	Poland
40	Singapore	Netherlands	Belgium	Belgium
41	Netherlands	Estonia	Luxembourg	UK
42	Belgium	Singapore	South Africa	New Zealand
43	Estonia	Sweden	Singapore	Estonia
44	Japan	Belgium	Sweden	Sweden
45	Czechia	Czechia	Estonia	Japan
46	Sweden	Switzerland	Switzerland	Netherlands
47	Switzerland	Japan	Norway	Switzerland
48	Norway	Norway	South Korea	South Korea
49	South Korea	Germany	Germany	Germany
50	Germany	Denmark	Czechia	Norway
51	Denmark	South Korea	Denmark	Kuwait
52	Austria	Austria	Kuwait	Austria
53	Kuwait	Kuwait	Austria	Denmark

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: Sorincolac/Getty