Cyprus tanks in global expat survey

In a major survey among expats, Cyprus ranked at the bottom of the table due to a lack of career prospects, working conditions and pay, but did mildly better for quality of life and ease of settling on the island.

The InterNations Expat Insider 2022 survey of nearly 12,000 respondents in 181 countries placed Mexico top for expat life, Indonesia second and Taiwan, followed by Portugal, Spain, the UAE, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

At the other end of the table, expats rated Kuwait (52), New Zealand (51), and Hong Kong (50) as the worst, a notch below Cyprus, which ranked 49, lower than Turkey (45).

Key questions in the survey dealt with how happy expatriates are with specific aspects of living abroad, such as the quality of life, the ease of settling in, finances, or working life.

They were also asked how they navigate daily life abroad.

For the first time, the InterNations ranking also included the new Expat Essentials Index, which covers digital life, admin topics, housing, and language.

Cyprus ranks worst in the Working Abroad Index (49): expats are unhappy with their career opportunities (34% vs 22% globally) and working hours (29% vs 17% globally).

Nor do they see a purpose in their job (22% vs 9% globally).

Close to three in ten (28%) also feel they are not fairly paid (vs 20% globally), which might be one reason why they also rate their personal finances negatively (35% vs 21% globally).

Overall, Cyprus only ranks 47 on the Personal Finance Index.

However, Cyprus does better in the Quality of Life (37) and Expat Essentials (34).

In the latter, 34% are unhappy with the availability of government services online (vs 21% globally).

The EU country’s best, but still mediocre, performance is in the Ease of Settling In (27): 62% of expats feel welcome (vs 66% globally), and 58% are happy with their social life (vs 56% globally).

Overall, 66% of expats are happy with their life in Cyprus.

In the rest of the survey, Luxembourg ranked 48, followed by Japan (47), South Africa (46), Italy (44) and Malta (43).