The social media platform for expatriates, Internations, has recently published the results of the Expat Insider 2015 survey. According to the responses from expatriates from 41 countries, Austria is the most popular country among expatriate families. Austria is followed by Finland and Sweden as top international moving destination for families, which rank particularly high with the low cost and high availability of childcare & education. Israel and New Zealand are ranked on 4th and 5th position, as they stand out especially in terms of the general well-being of expatriate families.
The republic of Austria gained this first place, moving up from the fourth position from last year’s 2014 survey. Its top ranking is only partly due to its outstanding availability of childcare and education. Expatriates with kids in Austria are also very much satisfied with the low costs of education (82 percent) and its quality in general (92 percent). In addition Austria scored high regarding available leisure activities for kids and regarding health & safety for kids. An extremely high scoring was reached for the aspect of family life in general, which was regarded positive by 95% of the expats who have lived or still live in Austria.
On the other hand, this survey also reveals findings regarding countries that are less attractive for families: According to that, Saudi Arabia is perceived to be the least attractive destination for expatriate families: 16 percent of survey participants were generally dissatisfied with the general well-being of their children in Saudi Arabia. And another two percent of expatriates with kids are even completely unhappy with this. Other countries with low ranking in the 2015 survey in this regard were Brazil, Turkey, Qatar and Oman.
The Family Life Index 2015 included the results from 41 countries. To be considered in this survey, each country needed over 30 survey respondents who are raising children abroad.