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Why Thailand is top the world as the best place for expats in 2013

Thailand top the world as the best place for expats in 2013

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 HSBC’s Expat Explorer Study in Southeast Asia countries

This result is from a recent survey of HSBC. If you go to http://www.expatexplorer.hsbc.com/#/countries , and uncheck Raising Children Abroad criteria (they lacked of this data). Then Thailand are on No.1 position, ahead of other 36 countries in the list.

This result is from a survey of 7,000 expats. I’d like to quote a paragraph from Huffington Post

“When considering all three categories, China comes out on top with high scores in economics and experience. Despite faring poorly in the field of raising children, expats in China report high salaries and better quality of life than in their home countries. 

When it comes to experience, however, Thailand outpaces the field, thanks to top scores for healthy diet, working environment, social life, local shops and markets, and local culture. Expats living in Thailand enjoy a high quality of life with little trouble integrating; 76% noted how easy it was to make friends in their new land. And of course, food plays an important role in satisfying these expats. Like Switzerland, however, Thailand also could not be ranked overall because of its lack of data on raising children.

In Southeast Asia: Singapore is at 6th, Indonesia and Malaysia follow with 13 – 14 positions. Vietnam keeps a 26th seat. Philippines is absent on the list???

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 HSBC’s Expat Explorer League Table focusing on Southeast Asia countries

Actually there are some results seem not to get along with others.  You can check several factors related to working in Thailand, compare among 37 countries.

  • Working environment: 1
  • Work/Life balance: 2
  • Feeling welcome at work: 27
  • Setting up utilities: 28
  • Local work culture: 29
  • Learning the local language: 33

Here are some reasons why Thailand won the expat’s minds from my view:

  • Living cost: quite affordable for most of expats. It’s similar to the living cost in Indonesia/Philippines/Vietnam and around 1/3 – 1/4 of Singapore’s.
  • Public transportation: although Bangkok has a high reputation on traffic jam, Krung Thep city can help you with other options: Skytrain BTS, Metro MRT, Airport Rail Link, Skywalk and even boats (i hope we could try elephant sometimes). We could always run away from traffic jams if we want.
  • People: Thai people are very and friendly. They’re also possessing a very high level of politeness. With this politeness Siam’s citizens are very sensitive, less straight forward if compared with their counterparts from ID/MY/SG/VN). Updates: time by time I realize that Thai people generally are very kind and generous to foreigners and open to new concepts.
  • Expat community: Thailand also has the biggest number of foreigners and expats combined in Southeast Asia. People come from different countries, different cultures.
  • Work & life balance: the Land of Smiles can provide you with many diversified activites for both work and life.
  • Travel and entertainment: lots of landscapes, cultural spots, street food and restaurants, massage shops, shopping malls, night life places for you…
  • Healthcare: Thailand also has two hospitals in Top 10 world medical tourism hospitals (Medical Travel Alliance). According to World Health Organization, Thailand medical tourism is the third highest in Asia (after that of India and Singapore).
  • Raising children: HSBC lacks of Thailand real data and so do I.

And you, what are the top three factors you’re concerning to work in a foreign country?

EcomEye.com Southeast Asia eCommerceFor Press Release and guest posts, feel free to reach mb[at]ecomeye.com/mb.asia[@]icloud.com 

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