Nomads, jet-setters, and regular adventurers, hear me out: If your adventures will take you abroad, you'd better know which countries are the most welcoming to expats. Luckily, we now have a list of the best (and worst) countries to make friends in, thanks to InterNations, which recently released its 2016 Expat Insider report — here’s the One of the largest expat surveys in the world. The report details the best and worst places to be an expat in general, taking into account specific factors such as working overseas, family life, personal finances, cost of living, quality of life and ease of settling in - of which Friends is certainly one Huge factor. part.
A total of 67 countries were ranked from best to worst based on responses from more than 14,000 participants from 174 countries and 191 countries. The end results reveal areas where foreigners are more popular and areas they may want to avoid. Taking all categories into account, the biggest winner is Taiwan, followed by Malta, Ecuador and Mexico – making these four countries top destinations for expats. Meanwhile, Qatar, Italy and Tanzania ranked lowest.
Not going to lie: My personal interest is mainly in the "Ease of settling in" category; generally speaking, in this section you can find out how various countries treat expats. This category is based on four separate factors: popularity, friendliness, finding friends, and language. The United States ranked comfortably 21st - 17th for feeling welcome, 25th for friendliness, 35th for finding friends and 13th for language. So, we're not the defending champions, but we're definitely not the least friendly either.
Read on to learn about the five best and worst countries for making friends. (You can view the full report here.)
Best countries for dating:
1.Mexico
Mexico takes the gold, ranking second in "popularity," fourth in friendliness, first in finding friends, and 16th in languages. Way to go, Mexico.
2.Costa Rica
The second place is still very exciting. Costa Rica ranks fourth for feeling welcome, third for friendliness and finding friends, and 12th for language, making it a great place for foreigners to live.
3.Uganda
Uganda was not far behind, ranking 22nd for feeling welcome, but second for friendliness, ninth for finding friends and fourth for language.
4. Malta
Malta proved to be very competitive and came out on top due to its popularity. Their ranking fell slightly due to a score of 17 for friendliness and 21 for language; but two points for finding friends helped improve their overall ranking.
5.New Zealand
Ranked third for feeling welcome, eighth for friendliness, 17th for finding friends and fifth for language, New Zealand ranked fifth overall for ease of settling.
Now, let’s take a look at the worst countries to make friends with. Let’s be clear, this isn’t to say that these countries are bad or that you should never visit them. That's exactly what international reporting is about, and, well, you can do what you want with it.
Worst countries to make friends with:
1.Kuwait
Overall, Kuwait ranks near the bottom in terms of ease of settling in. Ranked 66th for feeling welcome, 67th for friendliness, and 65th for finding friends; but their language ranking of 34th was a surprise!
2.Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia ranked last in feeling welcome, 66th in friendliness, 61st in finding friends and 40th in language. Travellers, we have warned you.
3. Denmark
Denmark scored 64 for "feeling welcome," 60 for "friendliness," 67 for "finding friends," 50 for language, and ranked last for overall ease of settling in. third.
4.Switzerland
I was dismayed to see Switzerland pop up because I'd always heard great things about it. Switzerland ranks 58th for feeling welcome, 64th for friendliness, 63rd for finding friends and 47th for language.
5.Norway
Norway scored 63 for feeling welcome and friendly, 66 for finding friends, and 37 for language, giving it an overall ranking of 63.
Images: Charlie Stinchcomb , Russ Bowling , kansasphoto , DFID - UK Department for International Development , Berit Watkin , Tom Hall , Snap , Francisco Anzola , Nelson L. , Francisco Antunes , Moyan Brenn/Flickr
