Melbourne, Houston and Madrid topped the list of best cities to live abroad for expats, but if one wants to be based in Asia, Singapore would be the best country to stay in.
In the annual Expat Insider survey done up by global expat network InterNations, over 14,000 respondents participated in the extensive study — and it found Singapore to be the fifth best city for professionals who live and work abroad. In fact, the republic is the only Asian city to make it into the top 10 in the world.
An overwhelming 89 percent of the respondents stated that they quite enjoy living in Singapore and consider safety and security in the city to be top notch. Singapore also does well in the ‘Ease of Settling In’ Index, with 73 percent of the respondents saying that it’s easy to get used to local culture. In the ‘Feeling Welcome’ subcategory, the city-state comes in ninth place.
Other Asian destinations, however, achieved “below-average results” in the survey. Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur are ranked 23rd and 24th respectively out of a total of 35. The Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai fare poorer, coming in at 26th and 31st place respectively.
One aspect that Singapore unfortunately suffers from (and one that we’re familiar with) is the poor work-life balance. The Asian metropolis also narrowly missed the top 10 in the ‘Personal Finance’ index, coming in at 12th place.
