In the region, Singapore is known to be a place for travel, business, and entertainment activities. But to the rest of the world, Singapore is considered home by many expats because of its strong economic performance, excellent living conditions, as well as progressive governance.
However, as the race to being crowned as the best place for expats to work and live in is wide open, other countries from different parts of the world have steadily improved their performance, giving top contenders like Singapore some tough competition this year.
Switzerland Overtakes Singapore as Best Place for Expats – Survey
True enough, a recent survey revealed that Switzerland has now dethroned Singapore as the best place for expats to work and live, according to the HSBC Global Report, as shared in a report by Channel News Asia.
Gunning for its fifth year on top, Singapore unfortunately has dropped this year to second spot while Switzerland climbed seven places to number one overall.
According to the HSBC survey, Switzerland offered “the complete expat package” where expats enjoyed “an improved quality of life to complement impressive pay and swift career progression”.
Other factors which contributed to Switzerland’s rise include controlled levels of pollution, low crime rates, safe streets, and political and economic stability.
Meanwhile, in terms of salaries, 71 percent of expats reported higher levels of disposable income in Switzerland. The report noted that the average expat salary in Switzerland in 2019 is US$111,587, well above the global mean of US$75,966.
Nevertheless, Singapore still came out on top for expats with children. About 62 percent of the expats surveyed said Singapore’s education system is better than that offered in their home country, while more than two-thirds appreciated the opportunities in the city-state for their children to learn a number of languages.
According to HSBC, “With goods and services flowing in and out of Singapore, the country is one of Asia’s key trade hubs and a major contributor to the thriving regional economy.”
Other countries that rounded up the top 10 include Canada, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Of the 33 countries on the list, Singapore’s regional competitors, Hong Kong and Malaysia ranked 15 and 16 respectively.
The 2019 Expat Explorer survey is a global survey completed by 18,059 expats across the world. The research was conducted online by YouGov between March 2019 and April 2019.
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