While first-placed Taiwan is not new to the top 3 and ranked first in 2019 as well, Vietnam (2nd) has reached new heights in the global expat ranking.
Meanwhile Thailand slumps to 25th, a fall of seven places.
Since first featuring in the survey in 2016, Taiwan has consistently ranked in the top 5. In 2019, it manages to reclaim first place.
Taiwan offers a great quality of life (3rd out of 64 destinations), favorable personal finances (6th), an impressive working life (8th), and good results for ease of settling in (14th).
However, with only 9% of respondents raising children in 2019, there were not enough expat parents for Taiwan to rank in the Family Life Index.
Nearly all expats in Taiwan rate the quality (92%) and affordability (89%) of medical care positively — no other destination has performed better for either factor since Taiwan entered the survey.
“The health insurance system and safety are what makes Taiwan attractive to me,” shares an Indian respondent.
This is only somewhat offset by the mediocre result for quality of the environment (35th). For more details on Taiwan and the Quality of Life Index, please refer to the in-depth article.
Taiwan has lost some ground in the Working Abroad Index to rank 8th out of 64 in 2019, following its 2nd place out of 68 in 2018.
While an above-average share of expats (73% vs. 63% globally) regard the economy positively, 81% said so in 2018.
“The economy is not as strong as it used to be,” shares an expat from New Zealand. Similarly, satisfaction with job security has fallen by ten percentage points (66% vs. 76% in 2018).
Taiwan does well for career prospects (2nd), job satisfaction (8th), work-life balance (16th), and working hours (18th), though.
An above-average 73% rate the cost of living favorably (vs. 47% globally). A similar share (74%) are satisfied with their financial situation, ranking Taiwan sixth for this factor. It also lands in sixth place in the Personal Finance Index overall.
Taiwan ranks 14th in the Ease of Settling In Index, its worst result. Expats struggle with the local language (38th), while praising the friendliness (4th). All in all, 86% are generally satisfied with their life in Taiwan.
More people are choosing Vietnam
There is no better place for finances and working abroad than Vietnam, it ranks first in both indices.
Together with the improved ratings for quality of life and ease of settling in, this means it reaches the top 3 for the first time, ranking second overall.
Over four in five expats (81%) are satisfied with their financial situation, noticeably above the global average (64%).
The same applies to the share of those agreeing their disposable household income is enough or even more than enough to cover daily expenses (96% vs. 77% worldwide).
Vietnam places first for both career prospects and job satisfaction. Combined with a satisfying work-life balance — 71% rate it favorably, compared to 60% worldwide — and a good economy (82% positive answers vs. 63% globally), this makes it hardly surprising that Vietnam ranks first in the Working Abroad Index.
The country receives a comparatively disappointing result in the Quality of Life Index, placing only 42nd, though this is an improvement after its 51st rank in 2018.
Respondents are still dissatisfied with their health and well-being (56th) and digital life (51st).
“I don’t like the traffic, pollution, and bad public transport systems,” says a British expat. Over a third (36%) regard the transportation infrastructure negatively. Still, 88% are generally happy with their life.
“The people are amazing,” a Swiss respondent thinks — others agree: Vietnam ranks fifth for friendliness, and close to two-thirds (64%) consider it easy to make local friends, 22 percentage points more than the global average (42%).
While 75% regard the local language as difficult to learn, just 18% find it hard to live in Vietnam without speaking it.
Overall, Vietnam improves by 16 places in the Ease of Settling In Index to rank 15th.
Like Taiwan, Vietnam is not included in the Family Life Index due to a lack of respondents raising children in the country.
Thailand still good for those looking for love
While Thailand received middling results in most categories, it did score highly in the Relationships & Romance category, where it was ranked 4th best destination for dating and finding love.
Despite its drop in the rankings, Thailand also scored highly when it came to expats recommending Thailand to friends and colleagues.
It also scored well in the Personal Finance category (13) where respondents were asked to rate their financial situation and their disposable household income with regard to covering all living expenses.
Some of the categories where Thailand scored poorly included Safety & Security (45), Digital Life (46), Economic & Job Security (37) and Language Barrier (44).
 has reached new heights in the global expat ranking.){kind=link}