Bahrain tops in living standards ranking in Arab region
MANAMA, August 27, 2015
Bahrain has been named the favourite in the Arab region among expats in many respects, according to a report.
The Expat Insider 2015 'The Best & Worst Places for Expats in 2015' ranked the kingdom 17th globally, while Ecuador remained at the top, followed by Mexico and Malta.
Bahrain topped the Middle East countries in the ease of settling in index; the 'most welcoming countries' list; the working abroad index; the family life index; and the 'top destinations for expat women' list, it said.
The factors taken into consideration to rank the countries included how satisfied an expat is with life abroad in general; quality of life - leisure options, personal happiness, travel and transport, and health, safety and well-being; ease of settling in; personal finance; family life; and working abroad - job and carerr, work-life balance, and job security.
The other Middle East nations in the list included UAE at 19th place, Oman at 24th and Qatar at 54th.
In the UAE, about 73 per cent of expatriates stressed the friendliness of the local population toward foreign residents. Only about 13 per cent of the population are UAE citizen and the majority of the people are expats, according to the World Population Review.
The UAE has also ranked high with working expats generally satified at their work places, in job security, personal finances, medical care, travel and transportation infrastructure and family life.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, Greece and Kuwait occupied the bottom three places on 'The Best & Worst Plast for Expats 2015' list.
Kuwait was ranked 64th in the overall ranking, particularly due to its low score in the ease of settling in index, said the report.
About 53 per cent of the survey respondents were unhappy with the general friendliness of locan residents. The situation was also seen to be similarly grim in the overall quality of life.
Expats are not satisfied with the available leisure options, which other see their personal happiness suffering.
The country, however, received some decent results in the job security and language subcategory, it added. - TradeArabia News Service
