A report this week in the Phnom Penh Post, repeated by some Thai media, that Cambodia is the fourth friendliest country in the world for expats in 2021 was trashed after Expat Insider said that the country did not even appear in their research. Expat Insider, published by InterNations, reviews annually what expats think of their host country in various categories (quality of life, medical services, job satisfaction etc) in countries round the world.
Kalena Harris, a communications manager from InterNations, responded to a query from Pattaya Mail, “Cambodia wasn’t included in this year’s report as we require at least 50 responses from expats.” Cambodia last appeared in 2017 when it was indeed graded very favourably for friendliness.
Thailand did appear in the 2021 survey and was graded 14th for expat living. The country scored well on the quality of medical services and the standard of living. Surprisingly, 82 percent said they were happy with their leisure activities although the research was conducted in January 2021 before the mammoth shutdown on fun really got into its swing.
However, Thailand scored badly on the environment and on political stability with responders apparently moaning about smog and the threat of coups. They also grumbled about limited job opportunities linked to restrictive visa and immigration rules. However, the Expat Insider only processed just under 13,000 expat replies worldwide which means the report was based on a very small sample of people living abroad.
The best regarded country in the world, according to the report, was Taiwan where not a single expat said he or she felt unsafe. This is certainly surprising as the off-shore island is forever being threatened by China with fire and brimstone. The bottom three countries were Kuwait, Italy and South Africa. So best tear up your job application forms to those dark places.
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