Czech Republic ranked among the world’s top 10 countries for expats in 2019 Expat Insider poll

In what will not come as news to many that already live here, the Czech Republic has once again ranked among the world’s best cities for expats in the latest 2019 Expat Insider survey conducted by international expat community Internations.

Each year, Internations surveys their members around the globe to determine the best and worst places for expats to live based on six main criteria: Quality of Life, Family Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Personal Finance, and Cost of Living.

While there were a number of shakeups in this year’s rankings compared to 2018, one thing has stayed exactly the same: the Czech Republic (or Czechia, as the Expat Insider poll refers to the country to the ire of many a local) has once again come in at #10 to just barely crack the poll’s top 10 countries for expats.

The Czech Republic scored best in the Working Abroad index, coming in at #2 behind only Vietnam. The country also rated among the top 10 countries in the Quality of Life index (#7) and Family Life index (#4), and in the top 20 in the Personal Finance index (#18) and the Cost of Living index (#16).

The only area in which the Czech Republic did not fare well was Ease of Settling in: Czechia polled way down at #53 of the 64 countries included in the survey.

In each of the Ease of Settling sub-indices, the Czech Republic polled among the lower half of countries, coming in at #37 in Feeling at Home, #45 in Finding Friends, and #54 in language — which few non-native speakers would dispute. But a rank of #62 out of 64 countries in Friendliness, which may not have been a surprise twenty years ago, seems overly harsh in 2019.

Still, these were the only sub-indices in the entire survey where the Czech Republic scored among the lower 50% of countries.

In Working Abroad, Czechia ranked among the top 5 countries in each sub-index: #2 in Career Prospects and Satisfaction, #3 in Economy and Job Security, and #5 in Work and Leisure.

In the Quality of Life index, the Czech Republic scored high marks for Travel & Transportation, coming in at #3 — thanks largely to Prague’s excellent and highly-rated public transportation, we presume, and not so much the infamous D1 motorway.

Czechia received more modest marks for Digital Life (#28), Leisure Options (#21), Health and Well-Being (#18), Safety & Security (#19), and Personal Happiness (#31).

In the Family Life index, meanwhile, the Czech Republic came in among the top 10 countries in four of the six sub-indices, and as high as #2 in Availability of Child Care & Education. Costs of Child Care & Education (#5), Quality of Education (#8), and Family Well-Being (#7) were also highly rated, with Options for Children’s Education (#12) and Childcare Options (#18) not far behind.

How did other countries fare in Internations’ 2019 Expat Insider survey?

Bahrain, the top-rated country for expats in both 2017 and 2018, fell all the way down to #7, with economic instability cited as a primary reason for the drop.

Taiwan, last year’s #2, unseated Bahrain as the #1 country for expats in 2019, followed by Vietnam (#2 after ranking #14 in 2018), Portugal (#3), Mexico (#4), and Spain (#5). Singapore (#6), Ecuador (#8), and Malaysia (#9) rounded out the top 10 ahead of the Czech Republic.

The world’s worst countries for expats? Kuwait, Italy, Nigeria, Brazil, Turkey, India, the United Kingdom (dropping 14 places over cited Brexit concerns), Greece, Russia, and South Korea all ranked among the bottom ten in the 2019 Expat Insider poll.