HSBC annual expat explorer report looks at one its like to be a foreigner living and working in countries around the world.

The bank asked YouGov to survey nearly 27,000 expats from 190 countries and territories for the report, asking them about how easy it was for them to live, work, and raise a family where they were.

For each category, HSBC calculated a score out of 1 and then used the average of those numbers to work out a ranking. 

Below are the results of its survey of expats' experience of different countries, taking into account questions on lifestyle, how easy it is to integrate with the local population, and how easy it is to set up a new life there.

Check it out:

21. Italy: 0.48

Overall: 0.48.

Lifestyle: 0.61.

People: 0.56.

Setting up: 0.29.

20. Mexico: 0.49

Overall: 0.49.

Lifestyle: 0.54.

People: 0.55.

Setting up: 0.36.

T=17. United Arab Emirates: 0.50

Overall: 0.50.

Lifestyle: 0.49.

People: 0.58.

Setting up: 0.42.

LONDON — The prospect of companies axing thousands of jobs in the UK has haunted the national psyche following Britain's vote to leave the European Union last year.

Concrete moves have been few and far between despite many companies, particular in the financial sector, talking seriously about moving jobs out of Britain.

But outside of the boardrooms, a smaller grassroots exodus has begun. Expats who came to Britain to further their careers are reconsidering their future.

"I’m not saying [Brexit] was the only reason, because we did have prior reasons, although I did think it did play quite a big role," Natalia Briedis, a Pole working as a change analyst at a Norwich financial services firm, told BI.

Briedis is one of hundreds of people who have registered with Expat Exit, a new project that aims to help foreigners working in the UK find new jobs in other countries in the wake of the Brexit vote. The project is the brainchild of Marcin Czyza, a Polish commodities trader working in Amsterdam.

"My colleagues from the UK said they would be searching for new jobs now and I thought it would be a great idea to create some kind of organisation that I could turn into a business," Czyza told BI, who has not worked or lived in the UK himself.

"At the beginning, of course, I struggled to promote the website. Then somehow Google recognised me and I started to have more and more registrations, almost everyday. I run this project as a non-profit organisation at the moment but I’d like to transform it to a recruitment business soon."

Czyza says he has had close to 1,000 people register on the site since the middle of last year when he launched it and has seen spikes in interest corresponding with the government's "Hard Brexit" rhetoric. This week, for example, his site saw four times as many registrations as usual in the wake of Theresa May's speech announcing Britain would leave the single market.

"I talked to many people who registered on my website and in many cases they told me the same — Brexit was just a cherry on the cake," Czyza says.

"They were already thinking about it for other reasons, whether furthering their career or the experience, sometimes not feeling welcomed in the UK — many reasons, you name it. Then the voting happened and many people felt they were not welcome anymore. Many people are just saying Brexit was a kick for them to search for another job."

People who register on the Expat Exit website say where they would like to go and what type of job they would like. Financial services workers are by far the most common profession looking to relocate and Czyza says their destinations of choice are most often Frankfurt, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong.

But he adds: "In some cases people are just writing: somewhere where it’s hot, somewhere where I can swim. In these cases it’s quite hard to give a statistic."

Despite the name, Expat Exit is not just for expats living in the UK. Harry Waterer is a 26-year-old Brit who worked in the City and broader financial services before turning to Marcin to help him relocate to Amsterdam.

"I started hearing this word Brexit and thought this is a little bit worrying, what options have I got?" Waterer told BI. "Am I best to stay here and look for options here or am I best to go somewhere else? I looked at options in Dubai, in Singapore."

Both Waterer and Briedis connected with Czyza over Facebook and Waterer, who moved to Amsterdam in August of last year, describes himself as a "guinea pig" for Czyza's project.

"He was great," Waterer says. "He talked to me about taxation over here and the relief of going on your own. We’ve become quite close friends over it, which is great. We see each other quite a lot."

For now, Czyza is using his own contacts to help people find jobs on the continent but he hopes to turn the project into a proper recruitment business.

He says: "There are many companies already interested in my project now. Most importantly, I bring them valuable people. Firstly, they’re available now. Secondly, they have experience from London or the UK which is always good. Right now I’m having conversations with a leading Polish bank because they’re interested in Polish professionals who want to leave London."

Czyza thinks his idea has big potential: "My personal opinion is the British economy will suffer. The sooner you decide to get out, the better it will be. Worst case scenario, London will lose its position as a world-leading financial centre."

Waterer agrees, saying: "I think there’s a lot of volatility within the community, especially within London. People are moving to Frankfurt or they’re moving to Amsterdam because they see this as a sustainable place and secure within the eurozone.

"Post-Brexit, even now, nobody actually knows what is going to happen when we actually leave. We’re stuck in this very, very grey area."

Briedis says: "I keep hearing about people losing their jobs, especially in financial service industry. I just didn’t want to leave my career to chance. If I’m going to leave I’m going to leave on my own terms."

She adds: "I wouldn’t be coming to Britain now because I don’t know what the future would bring for the expats in one or two years time. I wouldn’t want to come to a country where I might be forced to leave or my terms of staying here could be altered in one or two years time."

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LONDON – The Brexit vote in June last year has prompted a number of banks and companies to warn about job relocations from London.

There's also been a surge in passport applications for the Republic of Ireland.

But, according to expat network InterNations, there are five clear winners with those looking to relocate — and only one country is part of the European Union:

• Malta
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Canada 
• Singapore

The survey asked 14,300 expats, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 countries or territories, to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7. From this, InterNations calculated the scores to get an overall average.

Malta took poll position amongst British people. One third of the expat population there has British citizenship.

New Zealand came in second with British people, which already make up 21% of the expat population there, due to the work-life balance.

Meanwhile Australia is touted as one of the better relocation destination for Brits with families. InterNations says "out of the English-speaking countries, New Zealand has the shortest full-time work week with an average of 42.2 hours."

"Work-life balance is not the only thing that New Zealand excels at: an astounding 95% of expats there rate the quality of the environment positively, significantly higher than the global average of 67%," it added.

Elsewhere, affordable healthcare is a boon for British expats going to Canada while Singapore is a hit amongst UK citizens due to "political stability and peacefulness." It probably also helps that it is one of the richest countries in the world where the GDP per capita is among the highest across the globe.

"A notable 56% of expats there say the political stability of the country is very good, more than double the global average of 25," said InterNations in the report. 

"When it comes to personal safety, 100% of expats surveyed gave it a positive ranking. This helps Singapore clinch second place for the best quality of life for expats in English-speaking countries. The state of the economy is another draw for this Asian destination: 86% of expats rate this positively, in contrast to the 56 % global average."

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Expats move abroad for new job opportunities, for relationships, or even just to live a simpler life.

In a new survey by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, the company asked 14,300 expats, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 countries or territories, to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7.

One of the sub-indexes was the Cost of Living, where the data was based solely on the ratings given by respondents to the general cost of living in their respective country of residence, also on a scale of 1-7.

67 countries were included in this index. The minimum sample size per country were 50 respondents. Over 45 of those countries had more than 100 respondents.

So, Business Insider took a look at the top 13 places where it was the cheapest in the world to live for expats.

13. Romania —The government's spending rises and tax deductions are helping to stimulate more activity within the country, which is boosting job opportunities for locals as well as expats. Meanwhile, the cost of living remains super-low.

12. Spain —Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia are brimming with job opportunities and salaries are one of the best in Western Europe. But the country, also famed for it's great weather, carries little cost for accommodation, food, and transport.

11. Malta —The country leaped up the top of the list this year as not a single respondent said they were completely dissatisfied with their personal finances, meaning they were happy with the balance between money coming in and money going out on the cost of living.

When moving abroad, especially when you have a family, there is a lot to consider when it comes to quality of life.

Expats have to think about everything from access to affordable and quality education, to available leisure activities and family well-being, on top of the more mundane issues such as moving costs.

A survey by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, rated 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7.

One of the sub-indexes is the Family Life Index, which consists of 45 countries.

Expats rated everything from childcare and education, to children’s health and safety. Each country had to have at least 31 respondents who are raising dependent children abroad, for the nation to be included in the index.

Business Insider took a look at the countries that made the top 19 spots:

19. South Korea — The improvement in the Quality of Education subcategory led to the country hitting the top of the charts. "47% of expat parents in South Korea rate the quality of education as excellent this year compared to just 22% last year," said the report.

18. Mexico — Expat parents said not only did they have a good work-life balance in this country, which gave them more time with their children, but Mexico also hit the 8th spot for the subindex Friendly Attitude Toward Families with Children.

17. Philippines —The country is one of the best in the world for quality of education, for family well-being, and being a place that has a friendly attitude towards children, according to expats.

Moving abroad for a job usually means decent pay and improved career opportunities.

But even if you earn more in your expat position, the cost of living can drag down how much you take home each month.

A survey by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, rated 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7. The  report surveyed 14,300 expats, represented 174 nationalities, living in 191 countries or territories.

One of the sub-indexes is the Cost of Living. The data was based solely on the ratings given by respondents to the general cost of living in their respective country of residence, also on a scale of 1-7. 67 countries were included in this index.

The minimum sample size per country were 50 respondents. Over 45 of those countries had more than 100 respondents.

While lots of European countries like Spain, Malta, and Poland topped the cheapest countries to live in list,Business Insider took a look at the top 11 most expensive countries for expats:

11. Ireland —The country was rated third worst by expats for happiness in their personal finance situation because the cost of living is so high.

10. Finland — The country tops many of the other rankings for quality of life and well-being but it comes at a price.

9. Denmark —The country suffers from a lack of housing, meaning accommodation costs are high making the nation one of the most expensive places to live in.

LONDON — The typical migrant living in the UK is a female IT worker in her late 30s and is in a relationship.

That's according to a report by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad. InterNations surveyed 14,300 people living overseas, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 countries or territories.

InterNations was able to capture the typical characteristics of an expat in the UK and created this profile:Interestingly, the profile showed that the typical expat coming to Britain had already found a job before they arrived or were already in employment abroad and were sent to the UK by the company they work for.

InterNations also found that 68% of expats living and working in Britain earn more than £25,000, the average income for a Londoner:This could all change when Britain leaves the European Union.

The survey showed that 64% of respondents (who filled in the survey prior to the Brexit vote) "considered the economy and labour market one of the top potential benefits of their destination" while 77% rated the "UK’s political stability positively."

Prime Minister Theresa May signalled Britain will pursue a "hard Brexit"— leaving the EU without access to the Single Market in exchange for full control over immigration — in her speech in London on January 17.

Since then, a number of companies and banks warned that they are likely to move jobs out of London to mitigate any shocks to their businesses. For example, Goldman Sachs is considering cutting its staffing numbers in London by up to 50% due to Brexit fears. This could affect the number of job opening for migrants looking to work in Britain.

Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said in a survey on Monday that more than a quarter of employers in Britain say staff members from other EU countries have considered leaving their firms or the country in 2017. In turn, this could cause a major skills shortage in the UK, it said.

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LONDON — Russian oligarchs living in Britain are well-known for their extravagant lifestyles, often characterised by expansive London mansions, stakes in Premier League football clubs, and superyachts.

Perhaps the best-known among them is Roman Abramovich (pictured right), who became a high-profile figure in the British media after he acquired Chelsea Football Club in 2003.

So where does he figure in a ranking of Britain's richest Russian residents?

Business Insider took a look at the annual Sunday Times Rich List to find the richest Russians living in the UK, based on their estimated net worth.

Take a look at the 7 wealthiest Russians who live in Britain. (Note: Net worth figures and ages listed refer to the individual's statistics as of April 2016, when the Sunday Times Rich List was first published.)

7. Andrey Borodin — NET WORTH: £180 million

Borodin, 49, was until 2011 the President of the Bank of Moscow, but fled to London the same year after being accused of involvement in a multi-billion pound fraud case. The Moscow-born economist owns Park Place, near Henley-on-Thames, which was purchased in 2012 for £140 million.

6. Andrey Andreev — NET WORTH: £700 million

Andreev, who lives in London, is best known as the founder of popular dating app Bumble, which was launched in 2015. The Moscow-born tech entrepreneur also founded Badoo, an online dating website which has hundreds of millions of users around the world.

5. Yelena Baturina — NET WORTH: £729 million

London-based Baturina, 53, made her fortune from construction and cement. She sold her two firms for over £1.25 billion in 2011, and a year later bought the Morrison hotel in Dublin for over £23 million. She also owns hotels in Russia, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Leaving the UK to work elsewhere can be an exciting way to get new experiences while boosting a career.

The only problem is deciding where to go.

Moving agents 1st Move compiled a list of the best destinations based on 11 sets of data from sources such as the United Nations and the World Bank.

The company looked at average post-tax income, food costs, the crime rate and healthcare efficiency to come up with a ranking of destinations.

Jim Limerick at 1st Move said: "We were expecting to see the traditional destinations perform quite well, such as the USA, Spain and Australia, but this wasn’t the case."

Here are the 18 countries that were rated the best:

18. India — The country has the lowest food costs of the list, with an average weekly shop coming in at just $104.

17. South Africa — While cost of living is low, the country slipped down the list for its crime rate, which is the highest out of all the countries ranked.

16. Brazil — Brazil's crime ranking is improving, and the country is rated as having the 14th best healthcare system for efficiency.

LONDON — The post-Brexit legal status of Brits living in Europe, as well as European Union citizens living in Britain, could become a huge headache for the government, according to multiple reports.

The Financial Times said on Monday that the government's commitment to protect the rights of Brits living in the EU post-Brexit could become stuck in "a horrible legal morass," quoting an unnamed senior Brexit negotiator. The problem lies in the sheer complexity of the issue, with the government forced to agree policy with the EU on everything from pensions to the rights of children born to expats living in the EU.

While the EU and Britain have signalled their commitments to protect the rights of expats, both want a reciprocal deal that guarantees equal rights. The precise wording of any deal is therefore likely to be closely watched and fought over.

The Observer on Sunday reported on a leaked EU report that said that EU citizens living in the UK could fall into a legal no man's land after Brexit.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said in the past that all those who are given leave to remain will need "some sort of documentation."

However, there is no central UK migration register, meaning many of the 3.3 million EU citizens living in Britain could find themselves in a legal grey area. Rudd promised a "phased approach."

The Migration Observatory at Oxford said in a report last year:"The scale of the administrative exercise that would be required to register all EU citizens already living in the UK for permanent residence is, therefore, considerable. If all EEA+ citizens were to apply in the same year, this would be equivalent to approximately 140 years’ worth of permanent residence applications."

An EU report leaked to the Guardian last week said that Brits living in one of the EU's 27 member states could face a backlash from EU legislators if Britain fails to guarantee rights for EU citizens in the UK. The report said Britain's treatment of EU expats "may colour member states’ approach to this matter."

There are around 1.2 million Brits living in the EU and the Exiting the EU Select Committee said in a report last month that "that an unintended consequence of Brexit could be a surge in immigration to the UK of former British migrants, both working and retired." 

Campaigners said the committee that hundreds of thousands of retired Brits in places like France and Spain could be forced to return to the UK if the government can't secure a deal to protect their rights post-Brexit.

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In a survey by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, the company asked 14,300 expats, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 countries or territories, to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7.

From this, InterNations calculated the scores to get an overall average of the quality of life of people living in foreign countries.

The Quality of Life index took into account factors such as: Leisure Options; Personal Happiness; Travel & Transport; Health & Well-Being; and Safety & Security.

In January, Business Insider looked at the countries where expats have the best quality of life — with Taiwan topping that list. However, for every happy expat there is likely an unhappy one, and as a result, we decided to look at the countries InterNations says offer the worst quality of life. 

Check out the 19 worst places for expat quality of life below:

19. China — Regardless of its growing economic prosperity, China can be a difficult place for Western expats to settle thanks to its vastly different culture and language. It scored particularly poorly in Internations' health and well-being sub-index, ranking 64th out of 67 countries surveyed.

18. Philippines — Ruled by controversial President Rodrigo Duterte, expats in the Philippines struggle most with poor travel and transport links, and a low score in the health and well-being sub index.

17. Uganda — Uganda's capital is home to a large expat population, but the country as a whole does not provide a great experience for expats. It scored poorly in three of Internations' five subindexes.

LONDON — When moving abroad, especially when you have a family, there is a lot to consider when it comes to quality of life.

In a new survey by InterNations, the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, the company asked 14,300 expats, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 countries or territories, to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7.

Healthcare, safety, and the cost of living are crucially important, but so too is the quality of education available to expat families looking to give their children the best start in life.

Education in the countries listed below can come at a price, but the quality of education in these nations are considered the best in the world.

13. Czech Republic — Education is highly affordable with close to three-quarters (74%) of expat parents "overall agreeing that education is easy to afford in the Czech Republic compared to the global average of 45%."

12. Austria — "The quality of education is also rated favorably by 85% of expat parents, which is 21 percentage points more than across the globe," InterNations says.

11. India — Education in India is of a high standard, but it comes at a price for expats. "48% of expat parents think education in India is pricey," the survey says.

Moving to another country for a new job and life can be daunting. When you put children into the mix, finding the right home is even more difficult.

46% of expatriates around the world have children of their own but only 21% are currently raising their children abroad, according to expat networking group InterNations.

The group conducted a survey of 3,000 families who live and work abroad and found that some countries are significantly more friendly towards new families than others.

Switzerland, Russia, and Austria ranked as the least friendly countries towards families.

Here are the 9 friendliest:

9. Turkey — Expat families say this country is incredibly welcoming to children but rated it negatively for safety and security due to political instability.

8. Mexico —"Mexicans do not only welcome families with a friendly attitude, but expats in general," says InterNations.

7. Australia — The country ranks highly for friendliness but does even better when it comes to leisure options available to children. Australia also ranks highly for work-life balance.

Expatriates find they have a better work-life balance in Australia compared to their home countries, according to a study by foreign exchange fintech World First.

And the survey of 2000 shows 64% of expats reported they earn more money in Australia and 72% said they had the same or less work hours despite Australian’s reputation for working longer days.

The survey recorded the likes and dislikes of expats about Australia:

Likes

• 30% gave the country a 10/10
• The best rating features are beaches and nature (9/10), weather (8/10), safety (8/10), working conditions (8/10) and food and culinary scene (8/10).
• 63% earn more money here.
• 72% say they work the same or less hours.
• Slang: The use of profanity in everyday language was the greatest shock. However, expats learn quickly that this does not hold a negative connotation.

Dislikes

• 67% missed friends and family.
• 65% say Australia was a more expensive country to live in.
• Property prices (4/10), rental prices (4/10), the cost of living (5/10) and the state of Australian politics (5/10).
• The number one thing expats would change about Australia is its remoteness to the rest of the world.
• Most disliked slang: How ya going? G’day mate. Mate.
• Not fond of flies, spiders stingrays, sharks and snakes.

On politics, the expats named marriage equality as a key topic.

“The emotional challenge of the move was the number one challenge in the moving to Australia, followed very closely by making new friends,” says World First.

“These emotional challenges were interestingly ranked higher than the more tangible obstacles like finding a job or a place to live.”

Here’s the complete topic listing, with 10 being highly favourable, and responses by expats:

SEE ALSO: 26 places everyone should visit in Australia

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Warning: If you are angered easily, don't read this post. Although plenty of (American) commenters agree with me, I'm also getting a flood of angry comments and hatemail, but this is my (as always) frank and honest non-watered-down opinion, take it or leave it!

Read on to the conclusion to see my positive thoughts about Americans before you conclude that this is Anti-American propaganda.

With that said,  you may also enjoy reading my post about the 29 life lessons learned in travelling the world, and make sure to look around the site for some language learning tips!

Normally, after I spend considerable time in a country/city, I like to summarise my cultural experience there and tend to put a positive spin on it, as I did with Germany, Amsterdam, Brazil, and even Paris, which was actually a negative experience for me.

This time I'm not doing that.

This post is my rant about America because of all the places I've been, the people who always complain the most about the local country are travelling Americans. It's mostly for those people (which you may be far from yourself, dear reader!) that I wrote this post – so that they can read a foreigner complain about THEIR country.

Note that I've actually really enjoyed my time spent in the states, and I've since been back several times, but there have been too many things that have gotten on my nerves that I need to vent about.

I'm not interested in whining about foreign policy, economics or politics. This is entirely about my frustrations with day to day life in America. The United States is a huge country, and it's impossible to generalise all 300 million of you, but the points below are my observations after spending:

3 months in upstate New York, 4 months in La Jolla/San Diego, 1 month in Chicago, 1 month in Nevada, 6 weeks in San Francisco, 1 month in Austin, 2 weeks in New Orleans, 2 weeks in Los Angeles, as well as several days among other cities like Portland (OR), San Antonio, Houston, Durham (NC) … (and visiting sites like the Grand Canyon). Over a year in total, most of which was in trying to live as a local rather than staying in tourist accommodation.

Note: This range was greatly expanded in 2014 after visiting all 50 states on a book tour. If you ever meet me, I don't complain about America in person ever, I promise, this post was a special case for ranting ;)

While technically I've already “lived” in America [edit for clarity: when I say America in this post and in comments, I mean USA of course], each time was always a temporary visit. And when you read the conclusion, you'll see that I'll definitely be back.

Sorry if you find this post offensive, but I expect you to because…

1. Americans are way too sensitive

Sometimes I wonder if political correctness is in your constitution. I found out very quickly in my first visit that I had to bite my tongue pretty much all the time, and (more annoyingly) that nobody was ever straight with me.

It seems that speaking your mind to individuals is a major taboo. You can't tell a friend straight when he has f----- up, nobody will ever tell you that you look like you could stand to lose a few pounds, and there's way too much euphemism to avoid the hard truth.

To a certain extent, I can understand it – America generally does a great job of preventing people from singling out ethnic groups and toning down hate speech. But it waters it down far too much at the individual level.

A lot of Americans I met feel very lonely, and I feel this is a major reason. You may never find a boy/girlfriend if a friend who knows you well and supposedly cares about you, doesn't tell you the hard facts of what makes you annoying… so that you can change it! Being insulting for the sake of it is needless aggression. But constructive criticism is what friends are for.

The one time in my entire last three months that someone was straight with me was when my friend Karol Gajda gave me some tips to improve my presentation in future after I gave a TEDx talk, while everyone else was doing nothing but massaging my ego. It was really useful advice but it caught me off guard because I was used to months of…

2. Everything is “awesome”!

I really hate the word awesome. It used to mean “that which inspires awe”, but in the states it means nothing! It doesn't even mean good – it's just a word – a filler, like “um” or “y'know”.

This is the stereotypical American cheesy word, and I heard it until my ears started to bleed. Too many over-the-top positive adjectives like this get thrown around so much that they really mean nothing.

And when you ask someone “How are you?” the answer will inevitably be “great!” even if they are far from it.

When you start using excessive positivity it waters down the meaning, and those words become neutral. Then what do you do when you need to express true positivity? Of course, when someone says they are “OK, I guess” then you know things are pear shaped! I don't think “bad” is in America's vocabulary.

But nothing beats America's over-positivity more than this:

3. Smiles mean NOTHING

When I meet Americans abroad, one of their biggest complaints are along the lines of “nobody smiles on Prague's trams!” “That waitress was so rude to me! She didn't even smile!”

America – I have the opposite complaint for you. You guys smile way too much. It's annoying! How can you tell when someone means it? And why the hell would a stranger doing a crossword puzzle on public transport want to look giddy?

When people smile in Europe it means something. For example, because Germans don't go around looking like an American toothpaste commercial when I was with them and they smiled, it lit up the room – you know it's genuine and you can't help but smile back, because you are genuinely happy. You've shared a joke, or a funny story or you are in love etc.

But all the time? When you smile all the time in public it means nothing. Apparently a smile releases endorphins, but if your face is stuck that way I'm sure your dreams of a natural high will fade soon. I'd rather focus on trying to make my life better and have reasons to smile than lie to myself and the world.

Despite how surly I sound in this post, because complaining is the theme of the article, the fact that I vent when I mean it, means that when you see me happy you know I'm truly happy. And that is indeed a lot of the time :) But not all of it!

4. Tipping

While it's a perk for most of you, for me it was terribly annoying to be in restaurants and having a waitress interrupt me every 3 minutes asking me if everything is OK. I'd have to feign a smile (it's the American way – see above!) and thumbs up to make her go away since my mouth was always full.

I really don't see the point – if you've given me the wrong order or if I suddenly realise I'm dying from an allergic reaction to your food, you'll know it long before those 3 minutes are up.

Eating out is always an annoying experience because of this. In the rest of the world we call the server over when we need something. If this was genuine interest, or if the person was trying to be friendly that would be cool, but that's not what it's about. In fact, it's all down to “subtle” reminders that this person wants you to tip them.

This drove me crazy – I really think tipping as a means of waitresses and others earning the vast majority of their living is ridiculous. If I have to pay, say 15% anyway, then include it in the bill! It's not a bloody tip if it's mandatory!!!

Once again, one huge complaint I hear in other countries is how rude waitresses are, and Americans claim it's because they aren't tipped. Instead of getting tipped they earn a wage like everyone else, and do their job and if they do it bad enough they'll get fired. But apparently not pestering you every minute and not smiling like you are in a Ms. World competition means you are “rude”.

I think the basic concept of tipping is nice – but all explanations I've heard about it as a must-do make no sense when you really talk it out.

You can paint waitresses/waiters as hard workers who earn those tips, and need a chance for a higher wage than if they got minimum wage… but what about teachers and nurses? Why not tip them? Why not tip everyone who you interact with in some way – bus drivers, or leave money on your trash can for the garbage man? It's inconsistent, and waiters, hairdressers and taxi drivers should just charge us what needs to be charged.

See more of my confusion on tipping here.

Some people ludicrously suggest that it makes it cheaper that the restaurant doesn't have to charge more, but you're paying the difference anyway. What it does contribute to is clear though:

5. False prices on everything

Tipping is just the peak of the iceberg.

It's all one big marketing scam to make people feel like they are paying less. The price you see on a menu is nothing compared to what you'll actually pay. Apart from tipping, you have to of course pay taxes.

Now taxes are things that you simply have to pay on items you purchase – it's how governments work all around the world. So why hide it from us? It boggles my mind that places refuse to include the tax in prices. The price they state is pretty much useless. It's just saying “this is how much we get from what you pay, but you'll actually pay more”.

I don't give a flying toss how much YOU get, I want to know how much I have to pay! How much money… do you want me… to hand to you? Do I really have to spell this out?

The most laughable of all of these is the “dollar store”. If you have a single dollar, you will be turned away from a “dollar” store! It's a dollar… that they earn, not that you pay. Do you follow? The only thing that matters is the business's perspective.

I've been told that this is because taxing is different in each state. I shed a tear for the poor giant corporations selling widgets in different states who can't possibly print out a label for millions of peoplebecause it inconveniences the corporation/seller ever so slightly. We have the same product sold across many European countries (in many cases in the same multilingual packaging) and somehow someone in the company found the time to punch numbers into a $1 calculator in advance to tell people how much they are actually paying.

It's nothing but a large scale marketing scam. Make the price seem cheaper, which is lying to people. One great way to get people in more debt is to make them feel like they are spending less, but add the rest when it comes time to hand over the cash. This is one big part of….

6. Cheesy in-your-face marketing

I feel like scraping out my eyes with toothpicks when I'm forced to endure advertising in America. Make it stop.

Most Americans aren't even aware of it – it's on all the time so much that it becomes nothing more than background noise. And this means that advertisers have to be even louder to get through to people. It's a vicious circle that drives any non-American not used to it bonkers.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!

I decided to watch an episode of House one evening on TV. Up until then I had only really seen American shows online with advertising removed or back in Europe with European advertising inserted.

Every few minutes you get torn out of the show and bombarded with irrelevant spam, and “awesome” images of people who practically experience orgasms as soon as they buy product X, that is (of course) on special offer just right now. And if it's anything medical you get a super fast voice spur every kind of medical complaint you can imagine that his product will create as a side-effect. But at least the cheesy model is still happy, so it's probably not so important.

Some of my American blogger friends apply this to the online world and cover their site with flashing or aggressive banners, and a writing style that is psychologically very effective to make a sale, but man is it annoying. One online pet-peeve of mine is email pop-up sign-up forms, which you can justify with marketing stats, as long as you ignore how much you piss off people you don't “convert”. I'd recommend you install Randy‘s Stoppity plugin for Firefox or Chrome to turn those off.

And here's the thing: Americans are marketing geniuses. This can never be disputed. Every time I went to buy just a carton of milk, something about the supermarket that's different to what I'm used to, gravitated me towards some expensive garbage I didn't need and I almost bought it, or did buy it, feeling very stupid as I walked out.

If you are in Las Vegas you'll see how skilled they are at this manipulation by how they design the casinos. No windows, no clocks, impossible to find exits, no way to get where you want to go without walking through slot machines, the slot machines themselves have lots of shiny lights and bouncy music to entice you. You feel like you are being hypnotised. They know exactly what they are doing and have the billions of dollars to prove it.

But it's still manipulation, and to those of us not used to the loudness it's plain cheesy. Every corner of America is plastered with some kind of advertising or sponsorship, and I feel so at peace now that I've left. No more random phone calls on any landline (including hotels I was paying for) with a recorded voice to try to pitch me something and no more spam promotional brochures taking over my physical mailbox.

7. Wasteful consumerism

Some of the consumerism is difficult to avoid when you are flooded with advertising, but some of it really is entirely the person's own fault for being so wasteful.

The best example I can think of by far is Apple fanboyism. So many Americans waste so much cash to have the latest iteration of Apple's iPhone, iPad, or Macbook. When you buy one that's fine – I personally don't like Apple products (I find the operating system too restrictive), but there are many good arguments for why it could be better. I also like to have a good smartphone and laptop for example, and I'm as much a consumer as you if you happen to have an Apple equivalent.

The problem is when you replace your iPhone 5 with an iPhone 5S, and do it along with an army of millions of other sheep for no good reason. It's pointless and wasteful consumerism at its best.

I actually took advantage of this when I was in Austin years ago. I waited until the day the iPad 2 was announced and as I predicted there were 20 new ads per minute on Craigslist in that city alone from desperate fanboys trying to sell their iPad 1.

Since my laptop is so big (I consider it a portable desktop), it was worth my while to invest in a tablet and I convinced one guy to sell me his with a bluetooth keyboard case for a quarter of the original price, just 2 months after he bought it! He was so desperate to have the latest version that was ever so slightly thinner and faster, and with a camera that makes you look like an idiot when you point your iPad at something, but otherwise basically exactly the same.

Personally I only replace my smartphone when I break the other one from travel stress or dropping it in an ocean etc. I'm also a consumer though, and will occasionally buy stuff that I don't need, but replacing something I have for something marginally better for a large price is something I can never understand.

What makes it worse is that these people sometimes claim to not have much money and Apple products are added to their “necessities” list. The person I bought my iPad from sighed when I told him what I do, and he said that he wished he had the money to travel. I wish he had the common sense to realise that if he stopped wasting his money he'd have plenty left over.

8. American stereotypes of other countries

Many of us have seen videos online of Americans arsing up basic questions of international geography. I went out of my way to avoid people that stupid – my beef is with the supposedly educated ones.

Luckily, Americans you meet abroad tend to be much cleverer, but meeting those who haven't traveled made my head hurt with the amount of facepalms I'd have to do.

Now, I know there are 300 million of you, but I have had this exact same conversation on both the east and west coast, and in the mid-west and south:

“Hi, I'm Benny”

“Awesome! I'm X. Where are you from?”

“Ireland”

“Wow! You guys certainly know how to drink!”

“Actually, I don't drink”

“Oh, you're not really Irish then, are you!”

Again, and again and again… and again. The same idiotic script – I knew it was coming every time. They demanded to see my passport, said that I'm the only Irish guy they've ever met who doesn't drink (and very stupidly then admitted that I was the ONLY Irish guy they ever met!!) or had visited Ireland and spent all their time in Temple Bar (not even leaving Dublin), confirming that all Irish people are drunkards.

This is just one of the many dumb things they would say, which of course annoyed me the most.

A few others I've gotten include:

• How was the boat ride over here? [Surprised that we have airports in Ireland – I must have arrived in rags in New York harbour of course]
• Too many people insisting that Ireland was part of the UK. They actually argued it with me!!
• Did I have to check my car for IRA bombs when I was growing up? (uuuugh…., so many things wrong with this!)
• Surprised that I knew more about technology than they did. Aren't we all potato farmers in Ireland?

Whenever someone said anything about Ireland I'd always try to change the subject immediately or they'd quickly find out how blunt I can be.

Edit: If you think this is hypocritical, I'd argue that this post is NOT filled with stereotypes because it's based on my actual experience in hanging out with thousands of you.

Americans who stereotype us Irish (and other nationalities) have generally never been there, or at best “seen” (not spent time with) a couple of tourists. Stereotyping is based on hearsay and misinformation, and almost always from total lack of contact, or only superficial contact with the people you stereotype.

I'm not talking about Americans being all loud and war mongers and only eating at McDonald's and all being stupid etc. (typical American stereotypes), because these just aren't true for many people. I'm talking about what I've actually experienced from normal people in every day situations after an entire year of living and working in America.

9. Heritage

Every American you meet is not actually American. They are a fourth Polish, 3/17 Italian, ten other random countries, and then of course half Irish. Since Ireland is more homogenous, it's hard for me to appreciate this, so honestly I don't really care if your great grandfather's dog walker's best friend's roommate was Irish. I really don't.

The amount of “Oh my gaaawwwd, me too!!” retorts I heard when I said I was Irish is quite silly. I use country adjectives more restrictively than Americans do, so this was quite the pet peeve of mine. I finally learned that “I'm from Ireland” means what I wanted to say to them better than “I'm Irish” does.

I don't want to say I don't respect people's rich heritage (a nice mixture makes a country more interesting; the melting pot of cultures and skin colours is one reason why Brazil is my favourite country for example), but when people start talking about it as if it were genetics and their Italian part makes them more passionate and their Irish part makes them good drinkers I really do have to roll my eyes.

I should add though, that it's a language difference, so “Irish” actually means “Irish American” as I'd understand it. That's fine, but I'm trying to convey that people genuinely from that country (born and raised) find this annoying. There is no right or wrong, but it's important to realise that rephrasing it or saying “I have Irish/Italian heritage” may be more appropriate if you are talking to someone from that country. This is especially true if speaking other languages.

10. ID checks & stupid drinking laws

Seriously, I promise I'm not 12. Please let me into the nightclub!

I've even seen 60 year olds get IDed. Nowhere else in the world do they ID me now that I'm clearly in my 30s. A few times I haven't had my passport (the most important document I own that I really don't want to get beer spilled over) in my jeans pocket and have simply been refused entry.

I find it incredible that drinking age is 21, but you give 16 year olds licenses to drive cars and you can buy a rifle at age 18. And you can't walk around outside with an open drink in most states (but apparently putting it in a brown bag while you drink it makes it OK).I don't even drink, and I find these laws nonsensical.

11. Religious Americans

Look – I grew up in a religious town in Ireland, went to an all boys Catholic school, and some of my friends in Europe are religious. Even if I'm not religious myself, it's up to everyone to decide what they believe in. I find religious people in Europe to be NORMAL – it's a spiritual thing, or something they tend to keep to themselves, and are very modern people with a great balance of religion and modernism.

But I can't stand certain Christian affiliations of religious Americans. It's Jesus this and Jesus that all the bloody time. You really can't have a normal conversation with them. It's in your face religion.

12. Corporations win all the time, not small businesses

While there are many arguments against everything working towards there simply being a bunch of large corporations competing with one another, my biggest problem is in terms of availability.

When you get your food from Walmart or Wholefoods, and nowhere else, these places grow and will be separated by a reasonable driving distance for greatest scope. But between them? It's a wasteland.

I was in downtown Chicago one day and wanted to simply get a bite to eat, but after walking around for an hour the only affordable option I could find was Dunkin Donuts. There are plenty of excellent cheap places to eat in Chicago, but you need to drive to them, or be in a specific part of the city with lots of restaurants (knowing it in advance). There's too much competition between the big guys for a large number of little guys to sprinkle themselves conveniently throughout cities.

If you plonk me in any major city in Europe, I'll find food in minutes. If you do the same in America, even downtown and presuming it isn't a specific restaurant district, and don't give me a cell phone or a car, I could starve to death.

And this is a major contributor to what I feel is one of the biggest issues I had in America:

13. A country designed for cars, not humans

America is a terrible place for pedestrians. It's the worst place in the entire world to live in if you don't own a car.

On previous trips to the states I've had it rough – relying on sub-par public transport (which is at least workable in certain major cities, but almost never first world standard in my opinion), or relying on a friend the entire time. You can't do anything without a car in most cases. With rare exceptions (like San Francisco / New York), all shops, affordable restaurants, supermarkets, electronics etc. are miles away.

I really like Austin, but found it laughable that it was rated as among the most “walkable” cities in the states. Living just outside the centre, but within walking distance, meant that I had a stretch of my path with no pavement. The city centre was walkable, but most people live just outside it, and must drive to get in.

What struck me as the most eerie thing of all is that I felt very much alone when walking in any American city. In many cases I'd be the only pedestrian in the entire block, even if it was in the middle of the week downtown! The country is really designed to get in your car, drive to your destination and get out there. No walk-abouts.

Going for a walk to find food serendipitously (as I would in any European city) was a terrible idea every time without checking Yelp.com in advance.

For my more recent trips, I did actually rent a car for most of my stay (I didn't even have a driving license before the age of 28, which most Americans find hard to grasp), and everything was so much more convenient, but I really did feel like I was only ever using my feet to work the gas pedal.

14. Always in a hurry

So many things in America are rushed far too much my liking. Fast food is something we have all around the world now but even in a posh sit-down restaurant your food will usually come out in less than five minutes after ordering! What's the rush?

People don't seem to have the patience to invest time to slowly improve things, unless it involves some kind of monetary investment.

Americans are also very punctual, because of course time is money. So many of them could do with stopping to smell the roses, and arriving late because they took their time.

Despite all the false positivity, I find Americans to be generally the most stressed out and unhappiest people on the planet. Despite all the resources, and all the money they have, they are sadder than people I know who can barely make ends meet in other countries, but still know how to live in the moment.

This rush to the finish line or to have a million dollars in your bank account or to get that promotion, and to have that consume your life is something I find really sad.

15. Obsession with money

I met far too many people who were more interested in their bank balance than their quality of life. People richer than I can possibly imagine, who are depressed. More money seems to be the only way they understand of solving problems. They don't travel because they think they need tens of thousands of dollars (which is just simply not true, as you can read it in this post here), and they don't enjoy their day because they may miss out on a business opportunity.

16. Unhealthy portions

Apart from people not being frank with those who are overweight, the biggest problem is that portions in restaurants are grossly overgenerous. Any time I ordered even a small portion I'd be totally full. Small means something completely different to me than it does to Americans. If you sit down in most places and order anything but an appetiser or a salad, you will eat more than you should.

I was brought up being reminded of starving children in Africa, so I feel guilty if I don't clear my plate. This was disastrous in a few months I spent in the states a few years ago, where I put on a LOT of weight (that I've luckily since lost in other countries)! I should have asked for a “doggy bag” nearly all the time.

I've learned to stop ordering a soda entirely, because when restaurants give you free refills, I feel like I should drink more… it's free after all! Ugh.

17. Thinking America is the best

Finally, one thing I find annoying is the warped view of America's situation in the world.

Americans ask me all the time if I'm scared to be travelling in South America. I found it way scarier to walk around certain parts of downtown San Francisco or Chicago at night than I did even in downtown Recife (apparently one of the most dangerous cities in South America) – because at least there are people there. And I find it pretty scary to be in a country where pretty much anyone can legally buy a revolver.

America tends to have a skewed view of itself as “the land of the free” – it certainly was… 200 years ago, in comparison to other western countries. (You know, forgetting the problems everywhere had at the time like no freedom for certain ethnicities or genders…)

But nowadays, most of western Europe is as free or more free, with opportunities for people at all levels. America is indeed a better place with a higher standard of living than most of the world, but free speech and tolerance for all is the norm in the western world as a rule, not just in America.

There is no best country. But those who go on about how America is number one, tend to be those who have never traveled or are lightly traveled.

How about saying America is great or even… “awesome”? I think patriotism is an excellent quality to have, and we should all be proud of where we were born. But nationalism (believing other countries are inferior) is a terrible quality.

What I love about Americans

Since this post has been a bit of a downer, I will balance it out a bit by saying what I love about Americans :)

While I complained a lot here, I actually go back to visit the states very regularly! There are many reasons for this, including:

• So well connected: social networking and apps are so well integrated into America compared to other places I've been. Meetup.com is super active, and there is free wifi and apps made for your city nearly all the time. I love how much America has embraced the Internet to so many levels, and I hope we catch up in other countries.
• Conferences and conventions: while we do have some in Europe, we cannot dream of competing with the states in terms of sheer numbers of people with very specific niche interests gathering together. It's been fantastic for me to attend blogging and travel conferences, and even a Star Trek convention! You have such specific conversations there with large numbers of people that you can't normally do in other countries.
• Many friends: What will always make sure that I keep coming back is that I've made some lifelong friends with so many people that I never would have been able to elsewhere in the world because of so many things that we do share in common, or things we believe in.
• Countryside diversity and so much to do: As well as some great people, there are some incredible sites – and you can get a whole world of climates within America. To this day, the Grand Canyon remains one of the most impressive sites I've ever seen. It's also so much fun to visit any city – if you know the right people or even use websites like those I mention above, you'll always have plenty to keep you busy!
• Open mindedness and diversity: Despite what I've said in this post, America is a very special country with so much going for it! I thoroughly enjoy my conversations with people there, and it's one of the few places that I could write a post like this and still be welcome to come back later ;) And I will!

One final thought:

Some of my best friends in the world are Americans. I will come back – but when I share my thoughts I do it VERY frankly. You have to appreciate this. The cultural issue is that if an American complains about something they presumably hate it, but I'm just sharing my thoughts. Since my style is terribly blunt, you can indeed get the wrong impression that I “hate” Americans from this if you treat it as an American style complaint letter.

The honesty issue is such a cultural difference. My German friends tell me without hesitation if I smell bad after dancing for a few hours, if I'm being too loud, tell me when something I've created is crap or that I have terrible taste in music etc. – they don't hold back. From an American perspective they are being rude, but in fact they are showing how much they love me. It's constructive criticism. This post is actually because I care about Americans enough to be straight with them ;)

I hope despite the frankness that you'll welcome me when I do come back to visit! Of course there are many many other reasons I love America, but as you can see this post is long enough as it is! I can do much better by having some of you retrospectively look at your culture from a foreign perspective than I can by inflating your egos ;)

May the sea of comments, rants, retorts and insults… commence!

SEE ALSO: How to piss off a French person

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LONDON – The UK has fallen 29 places in an annual ranking of the best destinations for global expats, with the compiler of the ranking blaming the political turmoil that has followed last year's Brexit vote.

The Internations survey, which takes the views of around 13,000 expats on factors such as cost and quality of life and job security, ranked Bahrain, Costa Rica, and Mexico as the best countries for those seeking a new life abroad.

The UK came in at 54, below Kazakhstan (35), the US (43), and Peru (47).

Malte Zeeck, Internations CEO, said in a telephone interview with Business Insider: "We've definitely seen Brexit in the survey."

"A big reason is the political stability. Less than half [of expats] rate UK political stability positively and there's been a 30 percentage point drop regarding this topic. It's a major setback to the UK."

"You see the same with job security and the economy. The UK here lost 20 percentage points. When it comes to the state of the economy or political stability the strongest countries are Switzerland and Luxembourg, which can be attributed to the UK being seen as less politically stable," he said.

The survey found that over a quarter of expats have felt unwelcome due to their nationality. 18% said they felt unwelcome in Britain "at least sometimes", 6% felt unwelcome "frequently," and 2% even answered "all the time."

The Brexit vote has led to a shift in the UK government's attitude to immigration. On Tuesday, the Guardian leaked Home Office plans to end agreements to allow the free movement of European Union citizens and toughen rules over family moves.

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LONDON – Political instability caused by Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in the USA have seen both America and UK plummet down this year's ranking of the top countries for expats, according to InterNations' Expat Insider survey.

Of the 65 countries surveyed, the UK ranks 54th this year while the USA is 43rd, both substantially lower scores than last year.

The top ten destinations include Bahrain, Costa Rica and Mexico, while the bottom ten — which the UK narrowly avoids — include Italy, Saudi Arabia and Greece.

Predictably, Brits who move abroad tend to be looking for sun and an affordable cost of living, and Spain is this year's top destination for British expats.

The survey, carried out between February and March this year, asked nearly 13,000 expats about their quality of life and to rank 43 different aspects of life abroad.

Keep scrolling for this year's top nine countries for expats:

9. Singapore

Singapore ranks third for Safety and Security and first for Travel and Transport, contributing to it ranking fourth overall for Quality of Life.

However, the country was 43rd for Personal Happiness, 42nd for Finding Friends and 40th for the friendliness of locals — respondents reported most of their friends were other expats.

8. Colombia

Colombia scores fifth for Personal Happiness, although is much further down the list, at 50th, for Safety and Security.

Nevertheless, the country has jumped to 43rd to 25th place for Quality of Life, and respondents reported friendly locals and that it was easy to settle in.

Colombia was also ranked third for the cost of living, an important motivating factor for many who relocated there.

7. Malta

Malta scores fifth for Working Abroad, although is a lot further down the list, in 45th place, for Travel and Transport. However, the country dropped from 6th to 19th place for Quality of Life, in part due to more negative ratings for leisure options and safety and security.

Although Malta was fifth for political stability and peacefulness last year, it doesn't even make the top 20 this year.

However, respondents highly rated the ease of finding friends and said they felt welcome, and the country scores highly for job security.

Taking home a bigger paycheck sounds nice to just about anyone.

It sounds so nice to some people that they will move to a different country to earn more money.

Globally, 41% of expats relocated because of their career or their partner's career, whether by choice or out of necessity, according to the Expat Insider 2017 report from expatriate network and global guide InterNations.

To compile the data, InterNations surveyed 12,519 expats, representing 166 nationalities and living in 188 countries around the world.

In the survey, expats were asked to compare their current income to the income they would earn at home for the same or a similar job.

The top 10 countries where at least 60% of expats said they earn more than at home are concentrated in the Middle East and Northern Europe. But it's all relative — the report found expats' satisfaction with their personal finances varied greatly depending on cost of living and the state of the country's economy, even if workers were earning a higher dollar amount than in their home country.

For instance, 76% of expats in Luxembourg report earning a higher income — a greater share than any other country surveyed — but 23% said their disposable household income is still not enough to cover everything they need in daily life.

Below, learn more about the 10 countries where expats are earning more money than they would at home, and how it affects their personal finances.

SEE ALSO: The 30 countries that are best for your money, according to expats

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10. Singapore

• 62% of expats in Singapore think they make more than they would in a similar position back home — one-third believe their income is a lot higher.

• 43% have a gross annual household income of more than $100,000. On average, 21% of global expats have household earnings above six-figures. 

• Still, cost of living is particularly high in Singapore, securing it a spot in the bottom 10 on the cost of living index.

9. Norway

• 72% of expats in Norway believe they make more than they would in a similar position back home — 33% say it's a lot more. 

• Yet, 71% judge the cost of living less than favorably.

• On the bright side: Norway ranks among the top 10 destinations for work-life balance worldwide.

8. United Arab Emirates

• 71% of expats believe they make more in the UAE than they would in a similar position back home — about half think that they make a lot more.

• 16% have an annual household income of more than $150,000, compared to only one in ten expats worldwide. 

• However, 67% rate the affordability of housing in UAE negatively, and 27% say their disposable household income is not enough to cover everything they need for daily life.

LONDON — HSBC has published an ranking of the best countries for expats to live, based on its annual expat explorer report.

The report itself was based on an online YouGov survey of nearly 27,587 expats from 159 countries.

The pollster asked expats 27 questions across three subindexes: economics, experience, and family.

The economics league table uses a score that summarises expats views about a country and its expats, covering wage levels, career progression, and the local economy.

The experience league table quizzed expats on the lifestyle they have in their adopted country, covering local culture, safety, ease of forming friendships, and the ease of setting up a new home.

The family league table was based upon expats' attitudes towards family life in their adopted countries, covering expat social life, education costs, and the ease of children making friends.

The three subindexes were then collated and used to create an overall ranking based on an average score, given out of one.

See who made the list below:

17. Spain — Spain is now 17th (down one place) even though it is has a very positive experience score of 0.62. The country's poor employment prospects mean lower salaries, which drags it down on the index.

16. Portugal — Portugal is a new entrant to this year's league table. There, 42% of expats are retired, compared with just 11% globally, drawn to a better climate, lower cost of living, and a more appealing lifestyle. Almost all expats (96%) who had retired to Portugal rated it as a good or very good country to retire to.

15. Oman — The oil-rich Gulf state scores highly on the economics and experience subindexes at 0.56 and 0.55 respectively. However, it ranked just 32nd on the family subindex with a 0.38 score. The family subindex measures factors including educational attainment, social life, and the ease of children making friends.

• Data from the Expat Explorer survey reveals the best places for expats to work around the world.
• Nearly 28,000 expats in 159 countries and territories were surveyed.
• Below, we've listed the top 27 cities for expats to work, and how many people in each city said the job opportunities there were "fantastic."

If you're looking to move abroad, you'll definitely want to consider how easy it will be to get a job in your new home.

And while you could try asking a few friends and family members who have relocated, it's arguably more efficient to turn to survey data that addresses precisely that concern.

The Expat Explorer Survey, commissioned by HSBC Expat and conducted by YouGov, asked adults currently living away from their home country about the job opportunities in the cities where they live now.

In total, 27,587 expats from 159 countries and territories participated in the online questionnaire. A city had to have 90 expat respondents to be included in the analysis.

The global average for people who said there were fantastic job opportunities in their city was 25%.

Below, we've listed the top 27 cities for expats to work in 2018.

SEE ALSO: 27 cities around the world where expats are happy, rents are affordable, and jobs are plentiful

27. Geneva, Switzerland

How many expats say the city offers fantastic job opportunities: 15%

26. Moscow, Russia

How many expats say the city offers fantastic job opportunities: 15%

25. Shanghai, China

How many expats say the city offers fantastic job opportunities: 16%