Hong Kong ranks last for political stability, housing affordability in expat survey on world’s best cities to live
- City again languishes near the bottom of the InterNations survey, coming 46th out of 57 cities around the world
- Respondents bemoan political situation following imposition of national security law, ‘small and expensive flats’
Hong Kong has ranked last for political stability and housing affordability in a survey of the world’s best places to live for expatriates, as the city continues to hover around the bottom of the overall table.
The annual report by networking site InterNations placed Hong Kong 46th out of 57 cities around the world, based on a survey of 12,420 expats.
In Asia, only Tokyo ranked below Hong Kong with the financial hub emphatically beaten by regional rival Singapore, which placed fifth, as well as Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Shanghai.
Globally, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was ranked the top destination for expats, followed by Málaga in Spain and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, Hong Kong placed 57th out of 66 cities, and was in the 52nd spot in 2019 when the survey involved 82 cities. Seven years ago, Hong Kong ranked 10th.
In the 2021 edition of the report, Hong Kong scored lowest in the world for political stability, and was the only Asian city in the bottom 10 for the subcategory of safety and politics.
Only 10 per cent of expats considered Hong Kong’s political stability in a positive light. By contrast, nearly all expats, at 95 per cent, were happy with the political stability of Singapore.