HSBC Cites Spain as Second Country with Highest Quality of Life

As a British citizen who has spent more than half of my life living in Spain, I have very few complaints about all these years residing in this country. While it has been tough on many occasions in some aspects, mainly financially, the positives for me, far outweigh the negatives.

And that is the opinion of a large number of the approximately 27,000 expatriates working for the HSBC bank who have been posted around the world due to their job.

For the ninth consecutive year, the British bank has carried out a survey amongst its workforce that live abroad to see which country they prefer to live and work in.

Factors such as wages and economic possibilities, careers, quality of life and living abroad with a family have been taken into consideration.

At the top of the list, and the best country for a foreign executive to live and work in, is Singapore.

Amongst the many advantages include an annual salary of 139,000 dollars. Spain is ranked down in 16^th position in this aspect, down three places from last year, with an average manager’s salary of 97,000 dollars.

However, in the category of ‘best quality of life’ and ‘best life experiences’, Spain is ranked in second place, only behind New Zealand.

With regards to living as a family unit, Spain lies seventh, with Sweden at the top of the list, while regarding the economy, we are right down in 42^nd position.

Our country scores highly when it comes to living well. For example, it is cited as the country with the best health of its inhabitants in the world, the fifth with regards to culture and easiness in which to make friends, the seventh best to live in with a young family, the ninth for integration and the 15^th for how safe it is to live here.

Obviously it’s not all a bed of roses living in Spain and the categories in which it doesn’t do so well are mainly related to the economy, salaries, chances of progressing in a career and work experience.

If you are thinking of moving away to a foreign country but are not sure where, here are the top 10 countries in which to live in according to HSBC:

1. Singapore
2. New Zealand
3. Canada
4. Czech Republic
5. Switzerland
6. Norway
7. Austria
8. Sweden
9. Bahrain
10. Germany

Spain is actually in 16^th place when you take everything into consideration, but it is still ranked ahead of Japan (20), France (21), the UK (22), the USA (30), Italy (43) and Brazil (45).

Source: www.abc.es