DUBAI: The tiny island nation of Bahrain has been named the world’s top destination for expats in a survey of 13,000 expats of 166 nationalities – according to a survey by InterNations.
According to the Expat Insider survey Bahrain jumped from 19th place in 2016, to the top spot in 2017, ahead of 65 countries that were analyzed.
Bahrain beat competition from Costa Rica, Mexico, Taiwan and Portugal, while Oman ranked 17th and the UAE was 26th, placing all three Gulf nations well ahead of the US which came in 43rd and the UK which apparently fell in the rankings to 54th.
Bahrain scored particularly well on making expats feel at home, topping the ease of settling in index, UAE website Arab News reported.
The island nation also ranked first for people being able to get by without learning the local language, the report added.
Meanwhile those surveyed also said they were happy with their careers, with Bahrain ranking third in the working abroad index, and second in the job and career as well as the work-life balance subcategory.
Expats were less impressed with Bahrain’s economy, ranking 25th, but there was more confidence when it came to the job security subcategory, where Bahrain was 18th.
On the cost of living Bahrain remained around the same as the previous year – 28th – but climbed 13 places in the personal finance index to 13th.
And on their financial situation, 68 percent of expats in Bahrain said they were generally satisfied.
The country scored well for family life too, climbing 24 places to 10th, while on the quality of education it faired even better climbing from 22nd to 6th place.
While the availability of childcare and education saw the country make another impressive jump of 21 places to 11th.
Overall the report said that expats chose the Gulf region primarily to improve their financial standing.
The region was also identified as being seen overall by expats as politically stable.