Global mobility: The world’s best countries to live and work abroad, 2022

There are around 56.8 million expatriates currently living all over the world, and growth is expected to continue over the next few years. Over the past five years, there has been a compound annual growth rate of 4.7 percent. But if you are an aspiring expat, where should you be looking to move to?

The study looked at a number of factors such as personal happiness, health & well-being, safety & security, digital life, quality of the environment, ease of settling in, feeling at home, local friendliness, finding friends, personal finance, career prospects & satisfaction, work & leisure, economy & job security, quality of life, better salary, better work-life balance, and to search for a more meaningful career to determine which foreign countries are the most advantageous for expatriates.

According to the study, most global expats – 71% – are individual workers. International students, retired expats, corporate transferees, and any remaining expat groups round out the ranking at 8%, 4%, 3% and 14%, respectively. Even though international students (8%) are not yet the top group, the study estimated that the category will have the most rapid growth between 2021 and 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.8 percent. Individual expatriates are predicted to have the second-strongest growth rate at 4.1%, followed by retired expats (3.2%) and corporate transferees (3.1 percent). The U.S. State Dept. estimates that 10 million Americans are living outside the U.S.

Best Countries for Expats, 2022

1. Canada
2. United Arab Emirates
3. Taiwan
4. Mexico
5. Vietnam
6. Portugal
7. Malaysia
8. Thailand
9. Costa Rica
10. Ecuador
11. Colombia
12. Czech Republic
13. Spain
14. Bahrain
15. Singapore
16. US
17. France
18. Philippines
19. Ukraine
20. UK
21. Ireland
22. Switzerland
23. Indonesia
24. Kenya
25. China
26. New Zealand
27. Panama
28. Oman
29. Australia
30. Estonia
31. Luxembourg
32. Qatar
33. Austria
34. Romania
35. Netherlands
36. Brazil
37. Germany
38. Denmark
39. Norway
40. Finland
41. Chile
42. Greece
43. Poland
44. Belgium
45. Saudi Arabia
46. South Korea
47. Sweden
48. Hungary
49. Turkey
50. Kuwait