Expats praised the city-state for its appealing salaries, career development opportunities and quality of life. And despite the eye-watering cost of living day-to-day in Singapore (including transport costs three-times that of New York), more than a quarter of its expats who responded to the 2015 Expat Explorer survey said they earned more than $200,000 per annum (compared to just 13% of expats globally).

 

A salary increase or chance to get ahead in a career are often the big incentives³ to move abroad, but an increasing number of expats are travelling to new countries for personal rather than financial reasons, the HSBC study found. Three in five of the people surveyed said they had not experienced an immediate⁴ increase in their pay, but more than half, 53%, said their quality of life 

Destinations where expats were most likely to have relocated in order to improve wellbeing were New Zealand, Spain and Portugal, while Sweden was the most appealing for expats with families, thanks to ample⁵ childcare options and the relative ease of organising schools.

 

A total of 21,950 people from 39 countries responded to HSBC’s 2015 survey. The bank asked them to share their views on everything from career and financial wellbeing to quality of life. New Zealand, Sweden, Bahrain and Germany rounded out the top five overall expat destinations, while Egypt, Italy and Brazil were at the bottom of the pack.

 

The best benefit packages still come from a placement in the Middle East. Some 80% of expats surveyed in Oman received airfare allowances⁷ for trips home, and in Qatar 75% received an accommodation allowance⁶. The global average for both measures was 33%.

 

Contractual benefits in locations outside the Middle East were less common. Just over half of global expats (52%) received health and medical allowances and over a fifth (21%) were given a relocation allowance.

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