TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has retained its title as the best place in the world for expats for the third year in a row based on a survey by InterNations.
In the InterNations Expat Insider report titled "The Best & Worst Places for Expats in 2021," expats around the world ranked Taiwan as the top spot among 59 destinations. In second place was Mexico, with Costa Rica, Malaysia, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Ecuador, Canada, and Vietnam rounding out the top 10.
The list was generated by a January survey that asked 12,420 expats representing 174 nationalities in 186 countries and regions to rate various aspects of their lives abroad. A total of 37 factors grouped under four major indices were assessed, including Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, and Personal Finance.
For a destination to be listed under one of the indices and in the overall ranking, there had to be at least 50 participants living there. In the case of Taiwan, the country ranked first in both the Quality of Life and Working Abroad indices.
Taiwan was rated well ahead of global averages for job security (83 percent vs. 61 percent), state of the local economy (85 percent vs. 62 percent globally), happiness with one's job (75 percent vs. 68 percent), and life in general (80 percent vs. 75 percent). In addition, expats in Taiwan rated the quality of their host country's medical care very highly at 96 percent (vs. 71 percent globally), and 94 percent were pleased with Taiwan's affordability (compared with 68 percent globally).
The expat guide cited a Chilean resident as saying that the Taiwanese healthcare system "truly considers people as human beings instead of mere numbers." Expats also reported feeling extraordinarily safe in the East Asian nation, with none saying they felt personally unsafe (vs. 8 percent globally).
Taiwan ranked slightly lower in the Ease of Settling index in 13th place. However, in the Friendliness subcategory, Taiwan took first place, with a majority of expats finding it easy to make friends (62 percent vs. 48 percent globally) and considering Taiwanese to be "friendly towards foreign residents" (96 percent vs. 67 percent globally).
