Philippines: #29 in Expat Insider 2017

Some are skeptical of US News & World Report's Best Countries survey report that ranked Philippines as #49 among 80 countries and #1 Best Country To Invest In for 2018. Others do not trust HSBC Holdings plc's Global Expat Views On Economics, Experience and Family survey report that ranked Philippines as #24 among 46 countries positively viewed by expatriates in 2017.

Now here is Expat Insider 2017, a Munich-based survey report of expatriate life across the globe that interestingly produced results that differ noticeably from the US and UK country rankings: Bahrain ranked #1 as the best place for expats, the Philippines ranked as #29, and Greece ranked # 65 as the worst place.

The survey was conducted online from February 20 to March 8 2017 through the InterNations website, newsletter, and the company’s social media profiles. The target audience was expats in general -- all people living and working abroad for various reasons. A total of 12,519 participants representing 166 nationalities living as expatriates in 188 countries responded and took part. The top ten most common nationalities of the respondents were US American, British, Indian, German, French, Canadian, Italian, Australian, Dutch, and Filipinos, in that order. On a scale of 1 to 7 where 4 is neutral and 7 is the highest possible rating, participants were asked to rate their personal satisfaction on 43 individual factors concerning various aspects of life abroad. Then the respondents’ ratings were bundled in various combinations for a total of 16 subcategories. Finally, the mean values of these subcategories were used to draw up five topical indices -- Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Family Life, and Personal Finance. Responses to the question “How satisfied with life abroad are you in general?” together with the 5 indices, excluding Cost of Living, were averaged to arrive at the overall country rankings.

A sample size of at least 75 survey participants per relocation country was required for a country to be featured in the overall ranking and the indices, except in the Family Life index where a sample size of 45 respondents raising children abroad was required; and the Philippines was included. In terms of the 43 individual factors and the 5 indices, here is how RP ranked (red font for top 10, blue font for bottom 10 rankings):

1. #54 in Quality of Life Index (Portugal ranked #1, Cyprus ranked #33, Nigeria ranked #65)

• #25 in Leisure Options (Spain ranked #1, Japan ranked #33, Kuwait ranked #65)
• #8 in Personal Happiness (Mexico ranked #1, Ecuador ranked #33, Kuwait ranked #65)
• #58 in Travel & Sport (Singapore ranked #1, Norway ranked #33, Nigeria ranked #65)
• #52 in Health & Well-Being (Taiwan ranked #1, South Africa ranked #33, Nigeria ranked #65)
• #56 in Safety & Security (Switzerland ranked #1, Chile ranked #33, Nigeria ranked #65)

2. #7 in Ease of Settling In Index (Bahrain ranked #1, Brazil ranked #33, Denmark ranked #65)

• #17 in Feeling Welcome (Portugal ranked #1, Luxembourg ranked #33, Kuwait ranked #65)
• #8 in Friendliness (Portugal ranked #1, India ranked #33, Kuwait ranked #65)
• #9 in Finding Friends (Costa Rica ranked #1, Panama ranked #33, Sweden ranked #65)
• #7 in Language (Bahrain ranked #1, Peru ranked #33, Russia ranked #65)

3. #46 in Working Abroad Index (Czech Republic ranked #1, Hong Kong ranked #33, Greece ranked #65)

• #54 in Job & Career (Vietnam ranked #1, Switzerland ranked #33, Greece ranked #65)
• #21 in Work-Life Balance (Denmark ranked #1, Ireland ranked #33, Japan ranked #65)
• #46 in Job Security (Luxembourg ranked #1, Colombia ranked #33, Greece ranked #65)

4. #31 in Family Life Index (Finland ranked #1, Canada ranked #23, Greece ranked #45)

• #23 in Availability of Childcare & Education (Finland ranked #1, Philippines ranked #23, Greece ranked #45)
• #14 in Costs of Childcare & Education (Sweden ranked #1, India ranked #23, USA ranked #45)
• #41 in Quality of Education (Finland ranked #1, New Zealand ranked #23, Greece ranked #45)
• #38 Family Well-Being (Finland ranked #1, Germany ranked #23, India ranked #45)

5. #5 in Personal Finance Index (Vietnam ranked #1, Germany ranked #33, Greece ranked #65)

• #14 in Cost of Living (Vietnam ranked #1, Russia ranked #33, Israel ranked #65)

Expat Insider 2017 is the 4th of an annual series of global surveys on expatriate life conducted by InterNations GmbH, a global expat network of 3 million members with communities in 390 cities worldwide.

All excerpts are attributed to the Expat Insider 2017 survey report, published by InterNations.

Quo vadis, Pinoy? Mabuhay, Expat!​

 

And it's depending also on the location where someone lives. A living in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City will be completely different to a living on Siquijor while that one is different again to the living in Iloilo City. And this differs a lot also to a living in Tayasan (NegOr).

 

In behavioral and social research, "feelings" do not refer to the senses but to perception that form opinions. In applied statistics, the rule of thumb is that 30 is a large enough sample to be representative of a finite population. The results from 188 countries was delimited to countries with at least 75 respondents in order to shortlist the rankings - for certain, this number was determined scientifically using a statistical formula. In many countries, the sample size exceeded 75.

 

According to survey results, expats whose typical countries of residence are Finland, Greece, Philippines, Denmark, Sweden (40% male/60% female) are the romantic types who have moved abroad for love: 76% of them are in a relationship with a local, 48% are completely happy with their relationship, 25% have acquired local citizenship, and 17% are mainly friends with other expats. These expats rated their relocation countries high in the factors constituting Quality of Life Index and in the factors for Ease of Settling Index or Family Life Index, thereby subsuming other factors. In this manner, the Philippines got to rank #8 in Personal Happiness, #8 in Friendliness, #9 in Finding Friends, and #7 in Language. Add to that, an overall rank of #5 in Personal Finance Index arising from how expats positively perceive their personal financial situation and how their disposable income is adequate to cover their expenses. Naturally, such top ratings obtained in 5 factors and high ratings in 5 other factors jacked up Philippines to its overall rank of #29 among 65 countries.

 

While these rating are interesting, the challenge with all this is how do you effectively measure/quantify such things as personal happiness. It's both relative and subjective. One persons hell is another persons heaven. I prefer lists that measure more objective things, like cost of living, infrastructure, quality of education, cost of medical care, etc.

This website doesn't give you a rating, but it does give you some good cost of living information in the Philippines.

Cost of Living in Philippines.

 

My accountant used to ask me would you like the figures to show a profit or a loss? Any figures can look exactly what you want themto look like.

 

For a good survey it is needed to check many people and not just a few. 100,000 people per country will shed a better view than just 100. And when the survey only happens in few areas it will show a completely false view. How many expats on smaller islands like Siquijor, Camiguin, Guimaras, Panglao or even Boracay was questioned for the survey? Probably none.

Many people means moving into a 3rd world country will be a downgrade? Not in every case. Imagine you belongs to the low class society in Switzerland or another 1st world country and have to struggle every day just to get the most basic needs being fulfilled due the money you get is not enough for them. Now you move to a decent city or area on the Philippines (or another somewhat decent 3rd world country) and suddenly the same money you earn is more than enough for the basic needs. Even some small travels or other smaller luxury like own small car are possible.

EDIT: A coworker in my former company with a quite low income moved to Cambodia to prevent getting caught in the very restrictive social welfare net in Switzerland. He have now a somewhat decent living in Phnom Penh.

 

Most foreigner are worried of their family's well being. When the locals build a high block fence, topped with broken glass, and barb wire, making a nice neighborhood, look like a Detroit, or LA, ghetto, it gives us second thought about our well being, and choice of locations.
One sees this often in third world countries, so must be a way of life, and they know, or at least think, they must protect themselves, and what, they own.