The Malta Independent 3 November 2024, Sunday
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Malta ranked as one of the worst places for expats to move to

Albert Galea Wednesday, 13 July 2022, 15:54 Last update: about 3 years ago

A new survey has ranked Malta as one of the worst places for expats to live and work in, with the country placing in the bottom 10 overall and in almost every metric out of 52 countries.

The survey, called The Expat Insider 2022, is published annually by InterNations, which is one of the largest global expat networks.

Malta ranked in 43rd place out of the 52 countries around the world which were surveyed. Only Italy (44th), Luxembourg (48th), and Cyprus (49th) were the European countries which ranked lower. Mexico topped the ranking, with Portugal (4th) and Spain (5th) being the highest ranked countries.

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When it comes to Quality of Life, Malta ranked 49th out of the 52 – with the country fairing especially poorly in Leisure Options (46th), Travel and Transit (46th), and Environment and Climate (50th).  When it comes to the latter, expats were unhappy with the infrastructure for cars, the urban environment and the availability of industries that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment.

The country fares slightly better in Safety and Security (37th) and Health and Wellbeing (32nd).

Malta does fare better when it comes to ease of settling in, with the country ranking 21st out of 52. Malta ranks in the same place for Culture and Welcome, 22nd when it comes to local friendliness, and 18th when it comes to finding friends.

When it comes to working abroad however, Malta again ranks in the bottom third – as it places in 36th place.

Malta was ranked in 43rd when considering whether it has the “Expat Essentials” – with the components making this up being Digital Life, Admin Topics, Housing, and Language, these being the four categories deemed as being essential for an expat to move to the said country.

Malta ranks well in Language, owing to the island’s widespread usage of the English language, but is ranked dead last when it comes to administrative issues - a ranking associated with expats finding it difficult to deal with local bureaucracy and with opening a local bank account.

The Expat Insider 2022 report looks at 52 expat destinations around the world and ranks them according to the quality of life for expats.

The survey asked expats about the ease of settling in, working abroad and personal finances where they lived.

InterNations is one of the largest global expat networks with over 4.2 million members worldwide. In 2022, a total of 11,970 expats participated in the survey, representing 177 nationalities and living in 181 countries or territories.

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