BAHRAIN has been ranked as the number one place to live and work in, according to a new index.
Describing the kingdom as “the ideal place for easy beginnings”, the Expat Insider survey by the Munich-based InterNations, the world’s largest expatriate community, said that finding your feet in the island-nation appeared to be a breeze.
The survey collected data from 11,970 expats representing 177 nationalities from 52 countries.
Expats shared their views and the challenges they faced covering four parameters – digital life, housing, administration topics (dealing with local bureaucracy, opening a bank account and ease of obtaining a visa) and language.
Subcategories focused on: finding housing for expats or obtaining high-speed Internet access at home, ease of learning the local language and unrestricted social media access.
Bahrain was followed in the Top 10 by the UAE, Singapore, Estonia, Oman, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kenya and Canada.
In the Bottom 10 were Malta, France, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, China, Japan and Germany.
“Luckily for expats in Bahrain, finding your feet in this island country appears to be a breeze – it secures the first place out of 52 in the ranking of the best and worst destinations to get started in,” said the report.
It quoted an American expat as saying, “The day-to-day life is easy.”
“It is a quiet and well-organised country,” added an Italian-Argentinian expat.
InterNations co-chief executive and founder Malte Zeeck praised Bahrain yesterday for being the ideal destination for expats.
“Bahrain stands out as the best place for expats to get an easy start. For example, dealing with local bureaucracy can be a major challenge for expats, but it’s actually quite easy for expats in Bahrain,” he told the GDN.
“Finding a place to live is also fairly easy, though housing costs are not especially low.
“The ability to get by with English is another real highlight for those that may struggle with the local language.
“Overall, Bahrain has a lot of great qualities that ensure a smooth transition to life abroad.”
The Admin Topics Subcategory (2nd) is of particular significance for expats in Bahrain.
“About two in three (67 per cent) report that it is easy to deal with the local authorities, an impressive 27pc points more than the global average (40pc).
“In addition, visa issues also pose very few problems; 70pc say it is easy to get a visa to move to Bahrain (vs 56pc globally).”
However, when it comes to Digital Life, Bahrain ranks below the global average for unrestricted access to online services, such as social media (34th) but lands a Top 10 spot for the availability of government services online (8th).
“The majority of expats in Bahrain (82pc) say that it is easy for them to find housing, while only about half of expats globally (54pc) can say the same.”
However, only 39pc find housing in Bahrain affordable, the same share as the worldwide average (39pc).
Expats in Bahrain are not held back by language barriers.
“Eighty-two per cent say it is easy to live there without speaking the local language (vs 51pc globally).”
The index states that expats struggle the most with getting started in Germany (52nd), Japan (51st) and China (50th).
Expats in all above three countries also struggle with the local language and a lack of modern digitalisation.
Internet restrictions in China have also frustrated expats, while the bureaucracy in Italy is considered a ‘headache for expats”.
Among other GCC nations, the UAE ranks second overall, followed by Qatar (8th), Oman (5th), Saudi Arabia (7th) and Kuwait (49th).
Visa and administration issues made life difficult for expats in Kuwait, according to the report.
Nearly two in three expats (66pc) also say that it is difficult to deal with the local bureaucracy in Kuwait, compared to 39pc globally.
Expats also seem to be overall disappointed in the lack of digitalisation in Kuwait, which ends up in 47th place in the Digital Life subcategory.
The country ranks below average in the Housing Subcategory (37th), even landing among the bottom 10 for the affordability of housing (44th).
Kuwait performs best (though still fairly average) in the Language Subcategory (29th), where it ranks 19th for the ease of living there without speaking the local language.
sandy@gdnmedia.bh
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