According to CEOWORLD magazine, Spain has been recognized as the best country in the world for business expats in 2024. Singapore and Portugal ranked second and third, respectively. The 2024 International Executives Mobility Study placed Japan in fourth place ahead of Taiwan, which took fifth place. Finland ranked sixth, followed by Canada in seventh place. The top 10 best countries for business expats in 2024 include the United Arab Emirates in the eighth position, Israel in the ninth position, and Portugal in the tenth position. Estonia ranked No. 11, followed by Australia at No.12, and Germany at No.13.
Rise of Finland and Portugal: According to the report, Finland and Portugal are still among the top countries to consider relocating as they offer a high quality of life and are family-friendly. In 2023, these countries ranked 18th and 16th, respectively. On the other hand, Nigeria has consistently ranked last since 2013 and continues to do so. Canada, which was ranked first in 2018, is still in the top 10 but has dropped to seventh place. The Czech Republic, Austria, New Zealand, the United States, and Saudi Arabia followed in places from the 15th to the 19th.
| Rank | Country | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 84.7 | AAA |
| 2 | Singapore | 82.5 | AAA |
| 3 | Switzerland | 80.1 | AAA |
| 4 | Japan | 78.7 | AAA |
| 5 | Taiwan | 78.2 | AA |
| 6 | Finland | 77.8 | AA |
| 7 | Canada | 77.6 | AA |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates | 77.3 | AA |
| 9 | Israel | 75.8 | AA |
| 10 | Portugal | 75.2 | A |
| 11 | Estonia | 74.9 | A |
| 12 | Australia | 74.7 | A |
| 13 | Germany | 74.5 | A |
| 14 | Costa Rica | 74.1 | A |
| 15 | Czech Republic | 73.8 | A |
| 16 | Austria | 73.7 | A |
| 17 | New Zealand | 73.4 | A |
| 18 | United States | 73.2 | A |
| 19 | Saudi Arabia | 72.9 | A |
| 20 | Netherlands | 72.7 | A |
| 21 | Luxembourg | 72.6 | A |
| 22 | Hong Kong | 72.5 | BBB |
| 23 | Sweden | 72.4 | BBB |
| 24 | United Kingdom | 71.9 | BBB |
| 25 | Italy | 71.7 | BBB |
| 26 | France | 71.6 | BBB |
| 27 | Croatia | 71.5 | BBB |
| 28 | Hungary | 71.2 | BBB |
| 29 | Norway | 69.7 | BBB |
| 30 | Argentina | 69.4 | BBB |
| 31 | Morocco | 69.1 | BBB |
| 32 | Denmark | 68.7 | BBB |
| 33 | Bahrain | 68.6 | BBB |
| 34 | Qatar | 68.5 | BBB |
| 35 | India | 68.3 | BBB |
| 36 | Mexico | 68.1 | BBB |
| 37 | Bulgaria | 67.8 | BBB |
| 38 | Colombia | 67.7 | BB |
| 39 | Belgium | 67.5 | BB |
| 40 | Greece | 67.7 | BB |
| 41 | Panama | 67.2 | BB |
| 42 | Poland | 67.1 | BB |
| 43 | Chile | 66.8 | BB |
| 44 | Oman | 66.7 | BB |
| 45 | Thailand | 66.5 | BB |
| 46 | South Korea | 66.4 | BB |
| 47 | Malta | 66.1 | BB |
| 48 | Vietnam | 64.9 | BB |
| 49 | Cyprus | 64.7 | BB |
| 50 | Russia | 64.4 | BB |
| 51 | Kazakhstan | 64.1 | BB |
| 52 | Philippines | 63.8 | BB |
| 53 | South Africa | 63.7 | BB |
| 54 | Indonesia | 63.6 | B |
| 55 | Ireland | 63.5 | B |
| 56 | Ukraine | 63.2 | B |
| 57 | China | 62.8 | B |
| 58 | Kuwait | 62.7 | B |
| 59 | Egypt | 62.5 | B |
| 60 | Peru | 62.3 | B |
| 61 | Brazil | 61.7 | B |
| 62 | Turkey | 61.6 | CCC |
| 63 | Malaysia | 61.5 | CCC |
| 64 | Romania | 61.4 | CCC |
| 65 | Slovakia | 61.1 | CCC |
| 66 | Belarus | 60.7 | CCC |
| 67 | Georgia | 60.5 | CC |
| 68 | Nigeria | 59.8 | CC |
The rankings are based on six major metrics. The overall Score (100%) is the sum of the following:
1. Career opportunities
2. Earning potential
3. Quality of life
4. Ease of family relocation
5. Ease of raising families
6. Ease of settling in
* An expat (expatriate) is a person who lives outside their native country.
* There is two types of business expats (also know as business expatriates).
* Category A expats: Multinationals send employees to foreign countries to work in branch offices or subsidiaries.
* Category B expats: Independent expats for business abroad.
* The survey involved respondents from 95 countries and was conducted between January 12 and March 19 this year.
* Detailed survey data and information collected directly from 112,000 Individuals, across 6 data points.
* The overall score is numerical scores given to a country based on business expats and international industry recruiters feedback. Total scores are out of 100.
* Surveys completed by 105,000 business expats and 7000 international industry recruiters around the world.
* The Ratings for structures are then generated as follows:
* For group 1, scale AAA, AA, and A — For group 2, scale BBB, BB, and B — For group 3, scale CCC and CC
* The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 115,000 respondents is plus or minus 1.2 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that as in all survey research, there are possible sources of error—such as coverage, nonresponse, and measurement error——that could affect the results.
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