Leaving home? The world’s best cities for expats – our list of lists

Leaving home for a posting in a foreign land is certainly exhilarating, but rarely straightforward. It’s easier if you’re young, free and single but something of a challenge with a family in tow. Perhaps your partner has landed a plum position in the reassuring environment of a multi­national office, leaving you to sink or swim in the cultural deep end, haggling for groceries and negotiating rental leases with barely a word of the local lingo.

It’s tempting to envy sunbathing, souvenir-shopping tourists. Not for them the lottery of international school places, the search for affordable accommodation and the decision about which doctor to register with. Fortunately, a number of companies offer advice for anyone thinking about living and working overseas. Many also produce “Best Countries for Expats” lists based on a number of variables, although, as we’ll see, if they agree on anything, it’s that they don’t agree on much at all.

1 Internations

A 2016 survey by InterNations ranked Taiwan as the best expat destination in the world. The online network and guide high­lighted affordable health care, job security and an enviable work-life balance, praising locals for their kindness, hospitality and willingness to help foreigners. Malta came second in the poll, which was based on data collected from 14,000 respondents represent­ing 174 countries. The tiny European island scored highly in the “settling in”, “getting used to the local culture” and “making new friends” categories. Mind you, breaking the ice comes easily when you produce as many distilled liqueurs as Malta does.