Bahrain stays on top as world’s favourite expat destination

Manama, Sept. 8 (BNA): Bahrain, the world’s most popular expat destination, has defended its last year’s pole position and has again topped the Internations’ Expat Insider ranking. The kingdom scored first place among both male and female respondents and generally did well across most topics, Expat Insider, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive surveys on life abroad, concluded. The survey included 18.135 expats, representing 178 nationalities and living in 187 countries or territories, across the globe. Bahrain maintained its outstanding performance by topping the world in the “Feeling at home” and “the Ease of Settling In” index, reflected by quotes from one Indian expat “I don't feel like an expat. I feel at home.” Bahrain achieved great results for friendliness (Second out of 68) and finding friends (Second). Many respondents in Bahrain gave their working hours (44 per cent), job security (33 per cent), or overall job satisfaction (39 per cent) the best possible rating, pushing the Kingdom to the top of the Working Abroad Index. Expats raising children in Bahrain are particularly happy with the quality of education (Third in the survey), as well as the availability of childcare and education (Ninth). No parent is dissatisfied with family life in general, and over nine in ten (95 per cent) agree that the attitude towards families with children is generally friendly. Only 30 per cent of parents did not regard education as easy to afford. Bahrain has improved its standing in the Quality of Life Index from 32nd place in 2017 to 20th in 2018. While this is partly due to its favourable 12th place in the new Digital Life subcategory, which looks at such factors as cashless payments and the availability of e-government services, Bahrain has also maintained or improved its ranking across all other subcategories.