Quality of Life in Spain is Best in World, according to 2022 Report

The Internations Expat Insider Report is an annual report that uses comprehensive surveys to assess which countries are the best for expats to live in. The report looks at many factors including, but not limited to, the friendliness of a country to expats, the obstacles associated with moving to a country, the weather, and the quality of life afforded to expats.

This year 11,970 expats were interviewed in order to relate this report. Those expats were from 177 different nationalities, and currently residing in 181 different countries. For a country to be included in the report, it needed to have at least 50 respondents living in that country, in order to have a fair and reasonable sample. The headline result? That Spain is currently the number one country for expats in terms of quality of life!

Here is a full breakdown of how else Spain performed across the 56 different factors that were included within the report:

Spain Ranked 5^th Overall

As well as being rated the number one nation for quality of life, Spain was also ranked fifth overall. That means that of all the 52 countries included in the rankings, Spain was considered to be the fifth best country to live in. That’s proof of what we’ve already known for a long time: Spain is one of the best countries in the world for expats to relocate to.

To put these already impressive figures into context, you need to know that by finishing in first place, Spain was significantly ahead of a huge number of other desirable European countries popular with ex pats, including France (which finished in 11^th place), Germany (which finished in 15^th place), and the UK (which finished in 31^st place).  The quality of life index was calculated by looking at five unique factors: the leisure options in the location, its travel and transit services, health and wellbeing, safety and security, and environment and climate within the country. The editors stated that nowhere offered better leisure options than Spain, whilst the wonderful weather in the country speaks for itself! One drawback that is worth considering is that Spain didn’t top the charts in the safety and security category, coming in 17^th place.  However the good news is that this wasn’t a comment on personal safety (in fact 90% of respondents said they felt very safe in the country) but rather the perceived lack of political stability in the country. This didn’t stop Spain from reaching the top spot in the quality-of-life index!

Spain is an Easy Control to Settle In

Another benefit of moving to Spain that was highlighted by the report, and that is that Spain is wonderfully friendly country, making it easy to settle and assimilate when you first arrive. Its not unusual to experience a culture shock when you first move to a brand-new country, but these feelings are lessened in Spain. In the ‘settling in’ category, Spain finished in 10^th place (out of a possible 52) which is a great ranking, and one that represents just how much Spanish communities welcome their ex pat members.

Did the Report Highlight Any Negatives?

Of course, no country is perfect, and it can’t all be good news. The category that Spain performed least positively in was the ‘working abroad’ heading, which considered of five smaller subcategories. Here Spain was ranked at only 37 out of 52 overall, with its individual positions in each category outlined below:

• 41^st place for career prospects
• 21st place for work and leisure
• 35^th place for salary and job security
• 35^th place for work culture and satisfaction

Other areas where Spain could do better in its performance include the areas of  Digital Life, Admin Topics, Housing and Language. Spain finished in 14th place overall in all of these categories. When this was broken down into the individual categories, Spain finished 21st for Digital Life, 33rd for Admin Topics (no surprise there), 16th for Housing and 18th for Language.

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