World’s best expat destinations? Expat Insider ranks aspiring Malta second

Expats find Malta easy to settle in but are not as pleased with their work-life balance

Expat Insider: Malta holds sixth place in the ‘quality of life index’, with exceptional ratings for the climate and weather
Expat Insider: Malta holds sixth place in the ‘quality of life index’, with exceptional ratings for the climate and weather

Malta has been ranked second out of 67 countries as the best expat destination in the world in the InterNations Expat Insider 2016 survey.

A newcomer in last year’s survey, Malta moved up one spot to claim second place. Similar to Taiwan – this year’s winner – Malta is in the top ten for every index that factors into the overall ranking.

Ecuador was listed third.

Expat Insider, which describes itself as one of the largest expat surveys worldwide, surveyed over 14,000 respondents representing 174 nationalities and 191 countries or territories.

Top Expat Destinations 2016 — infographic&width=500

The survey covers a wide range of topics, including basic facts about demographic data and the moving process. It focuses on participants’ happiness with a variety of factors related to their country of residence and personal life abroad.

The survey found Malta performs best in the ‘ease of settling in index’, coming in fourth place. It is first in terms of settling down, getting used to the local culture, and making new friends.

Over four in ten expats (41%) say it is very easy to settle down in Malta, well over twice the global average of 16%.

Malta fell from first place to fifth this year in the ‘working abroad index’. It seems that expats working there are not as pleased with their work-life balance as they were in 2015, with only 22% completely satisfied (vs. 27% in 2015), which is still slightly above the global average of 17%. This is despite, or perhaps due to, the fact that 28% are part-time workers.

According to Expat Insider, Malta has made a quite significant impression in the ‘personal finance index’, jumping from 42nd to 6th place. One-quarter of respondents even quote complete satisfaction with their financial situation (global 15%).

“This is despite the fact that one-third of working expats say their income is generally lower than back home.”

Malta holds sixth place in the ‘quality of life index’, with exceptional ratings for the climate and weather.

According to the same survey, “three-quarters of expats say they couldn’t be more pleased with it, and not a single respondent has something negative to say”.

“With such glowing results, it’s perhaps no surprise that almost half the expats in Malta are planning to stay forever (49%), significantly higher than the global average of 31%,” Expat Insider said.

The three worst countries for expats are Kuwait, Greece and Nigeria.