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For each of the past eight years, InterNations, a Munich-based expat network with around four million members, has published an InterNations Expat Insider survey.

This year, InterNations ranked 59 countries, based on their cost of living, ease of settling in, and overall quality of life.

South Africa fared very poorly, coming in 57th on that list, reports Property24.

The only countries to finish below us were Italy in 58th, and Kuwait in 59th, which nabbed last spot for the seventh time.

…the survey takes an extensive look at living and working abroad, offering in-depth information on expats’ satisfaction with the quality of life, ease of settling in, working life, personal finance, and the cost of living in their respective country of residence…

South Africa ranks as one of the worst in the Personal Finance Index (55th) – over one-third of expats in South Africa (34%) do not consider their disposable household income enough to cover all their expenses — 10 percentage points more than the global average (24%)…

Kuwait is the hardest country for expats to feel at home in, Italy is the worst for personal finances, and expats in South Africa do not feel safe.

The US ranked 34th, and for the third year in a row, Taiwan came out tops.

Of the expats surveyed, 96% of respondents were happy with the quality of the country’s medical care, compared with 71% globally, with that of particular importance over the past 12 months.

More from Bloomberg:

Expats ranked Mexico and Costa Rica second and third. Both earned high marks for getting settled, which can be a difficult transition in other countries. Kuwait, Russia and Japan scored particularly low in this category…

Some 85% of respondents said it was easy to get settled down in Mexico, while 91% of expats described Costa Rica’s population as “generally friendly.”

Four in five expats in Mexico said they were satisfied with their financial situations, and 84% of expats in Costa Rica said their disposable household income was “enough or more than enough” to cover all their expenses.

When it comes to government communication regarding COVID-19, expats gave New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia top scores, with Brazil ranked as the worst, and Egypt in second-to-last place.

The US came in at 54th spot there, which isn’t too surprising when you consider that the confirmed death toll is now in excess of 600 000.

On average, global expats said the following:

• 68% are happy with their job
• 66% are happy with their work-life balance
• 48% are happy with the cost of living
• 71% are happy with the quality of medical care
• 48% say making new friends is easy
• 75% are happy with life in general

Other than struggling to make new friends, life as an expat appears to be rather rosey.

Just don’t be one of those bitter South Africans that moves overseas and then spends every opportunity trashing the country. That gets very old, very quickly.

[sources:property24&bloomberg]