According to the latest Expat City Ranking, the Philippines secures a top-10 spot as a premiere destination for expats (or expatriates) to live and work abroad. The nation is regarded as the eighth ideal country in terms of the “Ease of Settling In,” “Working Abroad,” “Personal Finance,” and “Expat Essentials,” ahead of Bahrain and Portugal and just behind Costa Rica.
via InterNations
While the country appears at the tail-end in terms of Quality of Life and Working Abroad metrics, it ranks highly in the Ease of Settling In (3rd, 2023) and Personal Finance (3rd, 2023).
Nearly 86 percent of expats rate the friendliness of locals positively—almost 20 points higher than the global average of 67 percent, describing making friends as “easy” (versus 72 percent) compared to the world standard (43 percent).
“What I like best about life in the Philippines are the friendly people and the relaxed lifestyle,” an anonymous American expat mentioned.
Foreigners similarly appear satisfied (75 percent) with their financial situation when residing in the country, taking into account their earnings to their expenses and the overall comfortability of living. Apart from this, love appears to be one of the driving factors (22 percent versus 10 percent globally) for expats to move to the country, rather than financial or job-related reasons. The majority also choose the Philippines as a destination for retirement (48 percent versus 11 percent globally) with only a third of the current foreign population still employed.
Mexico appears to sit comfortably in the driver’s seat as the top destination for expats, considering its top 5 performance since the survey’s conception in 2014. The South American nation appears to be a favorite in terms of the “best in the Ease of Settling In Index (1st, 2023)” and Local Friendliness (1st, 2023).
