India has been ranked 14th in a list of more than 150 countries that are best to live in for expatriates, according to the HSBC Expat Explorer Survey 2017. India fare above the United States, which ranks 27th. The best country for expats to live and work in was found to be Singapore, which took the position for the third year in a row, followed by Norway and New Zealand, respectively.
India was found to move 12 places up to enter the top 15 countries for expats, according to the HSBC survey.
“Driven by strong ratings across a range of economic, experience and family measures, India shines in this year’s league table, moving up 12 places since 2016 (to rank 14 as overall best country for expats),” HSBC said. “India draws many expats for work and financial opportunities, but new arrivals here often find their family life improves significantly too.”
The average income of expats in India was also found to be among the highest in the world. The gross annual personal income of an expat in India was said to average $176,408, behind expats living in Switzerland who were shown to have the highest income, averaging $193,000. The global average income of those surveyed was estimated to be $99,900.
Singapore is #1 and India rose to #14 in our 2017 #ExpatExplorer survey. @CNBC spoke to HSBC’s Anurag Mathur: https://t.co/4ccgpObHan
— Expat Explorer (@expatexplorer) September 28, 2017
India also figured among the top 10 countries when professional development for expats was considered. The report said: ‘The number of resident expats who recommend the country for career progression has increased by 12 percentage points since 2016 to almost two-thirds (63%), placing it seventh in our ranking for career progression.”
The survey took into account three broad categories with many sub-categories to judge the nations for people above the age of 18 who live in a country different from their native country. The three broad categories are economics, experience and family.
In the Economics category, India fares better than the United States in six out of nine sub-categories. The United States has better career progression, wage growth and disposable income, but India far outranks the western country in savings and job security. In the category of Experience, India fares worse than the United States in four subcategories out of nine — property, finance, integration and quality of life. India scored better than the United States in healthcare, placed at 24th spot as opposed to America’s 45th position in the parameter.
Courtesy HSBC
In the family subcategory, India has outperformed the United States in all but one criterion — health.
Most of the expats come to India from Europe (38 per cent) and United States (25 per cent). A majority of them reached India at the employer’s behest but some also ventured here for challenge themselves and “improve job prospects”, according to the survey. The top three industries where expats work are construction and engineering, financial services, and telecom, IT and Internet. Among the expats in India, only 4 per cent are students.
Among the expats surveyed, only 31 per cent have property in India, while 77 per cent have property in other countries. As many as 71 per cent of expats displayed a high level of confidence in the Indian economy while 58 per cent of them had favorable views about geopolitical stability.
The HSBC expat survey had commissioned third party research company YouGov, which surveyed 27,587 expats based in over 100 countries in 2017, to come to the definitive rankings. The top 10 countries are Singapore, Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Austria and United Arab Emirates.