What Factors Make a City Great for Expats?

What is your dream city to move in? A survey conducted by InterNations out last week shows a unique insight into life abroad. According to the Expat City Ranking 2018, the best and worst cities for expats are revealed based on a variety of factors. Apart from language barriers, what can be a key index to be regarded as the best city for expats?

Top Cities VS Bottom Cities

Taipei takes first position out of 72 cities as the world’s friendliest and safest city for expats. All expats in the city (100%) are happy with the transportation system, and other factors like healthcare services and urban work life are also rated favorably. For expats, Manama (3rd) is the world’s easiest city to get settled in, and Ho Chi Minh (4th) receives the best ratings worldwide for the lowest cost of living.

Geographically, half of the global top 10 are dominated by Asian cities, while a lot of European cities can be found in the bottom of the ranking. Even though some cities such as Paris, London, and Rome are popular destinations for travelers, expats rate negatively in terms of finance and housing, making new friends, and the ease of getting settled among other things.

The Best & Worst Cities for Expats in 2018

◇The top 10 cities for expats are Taipei (1st), Singapore, Manama, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Aachen, Prague, Madrid, and Muscat (10th).

◇The bottom 10 cities for expats are Riyadh (72nd), Jeddah, Rome, Stockholm, London, Paris, Dublin, Stuttgart, Johannesburg, Milan (63rd).

For more details of the survey results, visit InterNations web page. No matter where you live, Oyraa supports your essential aspects of your expat daily life by providing language assistance. Whether you are a foreign assignee or relocating spouse, let’s make the most of your life abroad. If you haven’t got our App yet, download now via the App Store or Google Play.

Rina is our contributor at Oyraa. Originally from Tokyo, she used to be an account executive at a tech company but followed her passion for languages after attending conferences in Singapore and the United States. She has since then become a translator and has lived in Honolulu, Dublin and now Lausanne.