Thailand tops expat survey
June 6, 2012 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 6 June 2012: The 2011 HSBC Expat Explorer Survey puts Thailand at the top of its list globally for expatriate as long as they have no children.
The annual survey, released earlier this week, is based on three main criteria: Economics; experience, and raising children abroad.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand released a statement on the survey, Wednesday, highlighting the country’s ranking in two of the survey’s criteria. It gained a top spot for quality of life, or experience, while retaining its top position when economics were factored into the equation.
The survey rated quality of life in Thailand as much higher than other countries with the healthcare system scoring high points and the relatively low cost of treatments. Thailand was also ahead on the cost of accommodation and working conditions.
The HSBC survey is the largest of its kind in the world, with 3,385 expats polled on life overseas.
One of the most striking observations was the predominance of Southeast Asian countries in the top rankings.
Thailand lost ground in the category of raising children overseas, possibly due to the lack of facilities for children in the Thai capital other than shopping malls and cinema complexes.
This is the usual hyperbole based on someone saying something about Thailand that is not negative. I think your writer failed to actually look at the survey.
The survey concluded: “Singapore is the ideal expat location for both quality of life and career progression (http://www.expatexplorer.hsbc.com/#/findings).”
It covered 31 countries and is ‘interactive’ – that is, it depends on people popping up who want to put their view, for whatever reason. Of the 31, 21 (including Thailand) were “incomplete”, HSBC commenting: “Unfortunately we cannot give an overall ranking for these countries as we received insufficient Raising Children Abroad data.” Of those that had complete data, Singapore won, ahead of Hong Kong, UAE and Mexico.
The survey said (among lots of othet things, of course): “Canada and Thailand provide a happy medium between work/life balance, increased income and local integration. The key to Expat retiree happiness is a good quality of life, good weather and a low cost of living.”
‘Thailand at the top of its list globally’? Hardly.
“Thailand lost ground in the category of raising children overseas, possibly due to the lack of facilities for children in the Thai capital other than shopping malls and cinema complexes.”
Quite possibly the Thai education system had something to do with it.