Lifestyle as an Expat - China comes last

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  1. #1

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    Lifestyle as an Expat - China comes last

    The HSBC conducts an annual survey of what a country is like to be an Expat in.

    For lifestyle it designates as a combination of
    - Health
    - Culture
    - Quality of life

    China comes dead last

    https://www.expatexplorer.hsbc.com/survey/


  2. #2

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    Surely the smog enhances the health, culture and quality of life of an expat in China?! ;-)


  3. #3

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    Are we reading the same table? The following countries all score lower than China:

    China Group: bottom Your criteria rank:34 All criteria rank (2016):34 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):27
    Kuwait Group: bottom Your criteria rank:35 All criteria rank (2016):35 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):34
    South Korea Group: bottom Your criteria rank:36 All criteria rank (2016):36 All criteria rank (2015):NEW
    Philippines Group: bottom Your criteria rank:37 All criteria rank (2016):37 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):28
    Indonesia Group: bottom Your criteria rank:38 All criteria rank (2016):38 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):33
    Turkey Group: bottom Your criteria rank:39 All criteria rank (2016):39 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):35
    Kenya Group: bottom Your criteria rank:40 All criteria rank (2016):40 All criteria rank (2015):NEW
    Chile Group: bottom Your criteria rank:41 All criteria rank (2016):41 All criteria rank (2015):NEW
    Peru Group: bottom Your criteria rank:42 All criteria rank (2016):42 All criteria rank (2015):NEW
    Italy Group: bottom Your criteria rank:43 All criteria rank (2016):43 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):37
    Egypt Group: bottom Your criteria rank:44 All criteria rank (2016):44 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):36
    Brazil Group: bottom Your criteria rank:45 All criteria rank (2016):45 Ranking compared to last year last year: All criteria rank (2015):38

  4. #4

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    It's difficult to quantify...I used to work for the European Broadcasting Union and they had very generous expat. packages. Strong salaries, no rent, insurance, flights, food allowance, etc. The only question was where you preferred to be...for example, I preferred Beijing to Salt Lake City and Turin, but I preferred Sydney and Athens to Beijing...I saved more in Beijing than the other places, got treated more like royalty in Beijing and Athens, etc...preferred the food in Athens and Turin, preferred nightlife in Sydney (I was in my twenties), etc, etc...got kids now so that's another point...


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    Surprised to see Italy so low. Never worked or lived there though.


  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by hullexile:
    Surprised to see Italy so low. Never worked or lived there though.
    I suspect bureaucracy could have to do with that.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by civil_servant:
    I suspect bureaucracy could have to do with that.
    I remember public transport being useless...randomly, healthcare was a very high standard. Beauracracy? Hard to say as it was between Greece and Beijing which were both nightmares...

  8. #8

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    If you click on a country it gives you the rankings for each criteria so you can tell what drags a country down.


  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by rickyross:
    Are we reading the same table? The following countries all score lower than China:
    Not when the results are filtered to look at lifestyle only. According to the survey China does well on economic goals and a few other areas but not lifestyle.

  10. #10

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    One criteria I don't understand is "closeness to partner". What does that mean in this context?