The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been ranked first amongst Gulf countries and sixth globally out of 59 destinations in the list of best countries to live and work in, said a new survey by global network InterNations.
InterNations polled nearly 12,000 people around the world, covering issues including the extent of expatriates satisfaction with quality of life, ease of settling and working abroad, personal finance in their country of residence, and others. UAE managed to top it in the Gulf region.
In addition, expatriates especially value their financial resources, especially in terms of prices and quality of housing, food and health care.
Overall, the UAE ranked second in the world in the Expat Essentials Index, and fifth for both ‘Quality of Life’ and ‘Working Abroad’ categories. Both those areas cover issues like career prospects, salary and job security, leisure options, health and well-being, safety and security.
The UAE was also placed 13th in the Ease of Settling In category, while expatriates admitted to “struggling a bit” in the Personal Finance section, with the UAE coming in at 34th place. Overall, however, 71 per cent of foreign workers are happy with their life in the UAE, the survey says.
Meanwhile, in the ‘Safety and Security’, and ‘Health and Well-being’ subcategories in the study also ranked highly foreign workers in the UAE, who came in the seventh and ninth places.
About 94 per cent of UAE respondents said they were happy with the level of personal safety in the Emirates compared with 81 per cent globally, while 86 per cent said they are also very satisfied with the country’s political stability.
Quality of medical care rated ‘very highly’
The study also found that 78 percent of UAE respondents said it was easy to gain access to a wide range of healthcare services. Both the quality of medical care and availability of health care was rated “very highly”, in sixth place overall, the survey says.
The UAE also ranked “quite well” when it came to the ‘Ease of Settling In’ category, with 77 per cent of those polled saying they feel welcome in the Emirates, compared with 66 per cent globally.
Mexico, Indonesia and Taiwan were also ranked as the top three expat destinations, based on ease of settling in and good personal finances.
Among the Gulf countries surveyed by InterNations
| Country | Gulf Rank | Global Rank |
| UAE | 1 | 6 |
| Oman | 2 | 1 |
| Bahrain | 3 | 15 |
| Qatar | 4 | 26 |
| Saudi Arabia | 5 | 27 |
| Kuwait | 6 | 52 |
Top 10 destinations for expatriates to live and work
| Country | Global Rank |
| Mexico | 1 |
| Indonesia | 2 |
| Taiwan | 3 |
| Portugal | 4 |
| Spain | 5 |
| UAE | 6 |
| Vietnam | 7 |
| Thailand | 8 |
| Australia | 9 |
| Singapore | 10 |
Bottom 10 expatriates destinations
| Country | Global Rank |
| Kuwait | 52 |
| New Zealand | 51 |
| Hong Kong | 50 |
| Cyprus | 49 |
| Luxembourg | 48 |
| Japan | 47 |
| South Africa | 46 |
| Turkey | 45 |
| Italy | 44 |
| Malta | 43 |
