Independent work topic: Living in another country

The top 10 most welcoming county

For the first time ever in the Expat Insider survey, Portugal claims the top position as the country with the friendliest attitude towards foreign residents — relegating Taiwan and Mexico to second and third place. Additionally, expats can expect a warm welcome in Cambodia, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Oman, Colombia, Vietnam, and Canada: between 81 (Canada) and 94 percent (Portugal) rate the local population’s attitude towards foreign residents positively in these countries, which is far above the global average of 67 percent. Moreover, in each of these destinations, local residents are perceived to be welcoming (from 62% in Canada up to 86% in Colombia) rather than distant. It seems like the friendly atmosphere may have a positive impact on the overall satisfaction with life abroad: aside from Cambodia (22nd), all destinations rank among the top-15 countries for that factor.