Change ranking criteria using the dropdown menus:

Get a global perspective

See at a glance how countries compare across the globe. Change the criteria and watch as the country rankings update to reflect your choices.

View global comparison

Compare in detail

View a detailed comparison between two countries based on the criteria you have set. See the full range of individual criteria for each country, side by side.

Compare two countries

In depth analysis

Our experts have analysed the survey data provided by over 3,385 expats during 2011. That thinking has been concentrated into 19 succinct findings.

View findings

The Expat Explorer survey, now in its fourth year, is the largest independent global survey of expats. Commissioned by HSBC Expat and conducted by a third party research company, more than 3,385 expats based in 100 countries across the globe were questioned between April and June 2011.

How do you define an expat?

For the survey, we have defined an expatriate as someone over the age of 18 years old who is currently living away from their home country (country of origin).

Are the respondents HSBC customers?

As a specialist provider of offshore savings and wealth management for expatriates, of course we invited our customers to take part. But we also wanted a truly international snapshot of expat life. We contacted online communities and used expat social media sites to ensure as many different international expat groups were included.

How can I make the most of this website?

Use the "Change ranking" menu at the top of the page to select the criteria that are important to you. See which countries perform best for these criteria in the "How countries compare" section, or find relevant findings about expat life in the "Findings" section.

Click on a country in the "How countries compare" section to find out more about that country and to compare its ranking with another country, based on the criteria you have selected.

Click the 'plus' symbol or text for more information.

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Why doesn't Expat Explorer reflect the latest events in the news?

Although expat attitudes to countries do not generally change overnight, the country rankings and findings can sometimes be overtaken by current events - for example major upheavals in a country's political or economical fortunes. In order to include as many respondents as possible while still remaining statistically valid, we only run the Expat Explorer survey once per year and therefore the results are necessarily a snapshot of that moment in time. The most recent survey was run in June 2011.

Why is the country I am interested in not featured in the Expat Explorer results?

In order for the results and league tables to be statistically significant, we need a minimum of 30 respondents from a country in order for it to appear in the report. Although we had respondents from over 100 countries this year, only 31 met the minimum number of responses required. Keep an eye out for next year's survey and help spread the word so we can include as many countries as possible!

Why do some countries appear greyed out when I select the ‘Raising Children Abroad' criteria?

Again in order for the results and league tables to be statistically significant, we need a minimum of 30 respondents from a country. This means that for the ‘Raising Children Abroad' rankings to be available for a country, we need to have had at least 30 respondents from that country who have children. You can still see how the country ranked for ‘Finances' and ‘Quality of life' criteria by unchecking the ‘Raising children abroad' criteria.

How can I get involved?

Reports

2011 Report
2010 Economics Report
2010 Experience Report
2010 Offspring Report
2009 Economics Report
2009 Experience Report
2009 Offspring Report
2008 Economics Report
2008 Experience Report
2008 Offspring Report

Next Steps

Country guides

Expat Explorer on the Web:

Expat Videos

Our World Map, Chart and League Table rank 31 countries using various criteria.

The top ranking country for Economics & Experience in 2011 was Thailand.

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Expat banking

A safe haven for your money, with convenient international access and potential tax efficiency.

How HSBC can help

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Case studies

Expats talk about their experiences, including the rewards, challenges and practicalities of life abroad.

Expat case studies

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What do you think?

Tell us what you think about this Expat Explorer Survey interactive tool - and how we could make it even better!

Tell us what you think

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