Expat Survey Sees Thailand At Its Worst Ever World Ranking

Thailand has dropped to its worst ever ranking in the recently released Expat Explorer 2019 survey.

Once a preferred option for many expat professionals looking to change location, Thailand is now ranked 24th out of 64 countries surveyed. The survey took into account expats’ perceived quality of life, personal finance, family life, ease of settling in, working life and overall cost of living, with the Southeast Asian state losing out on safety and security, digital life and quality of life as well as health and well-being. In addition, it was ranked a dismal 56th out of 64 for its lack of environmental concerns and its perceived lack of political stability. Even although several categories including cost of living and personal finance managed reasonable rankings at 13th and 15th position, the scores were down from last year’s results of sixth and fourth positions.

Conversely, the country was well-placed in the ease of settling in and working life sectors, and children's’ education as well as childcare was generally regarded as good and affordable. Some 70 per cent of respondents are content with their financial situation and slightly more are fine with the cost of living, but both categories scored lower than last year’s results of 77 and 86 per cent respectively. One of the most positive results was seen in the quality of medical care sub-category, with 80 per cent of those surveyed giving positive comments, thus placing Thailand in the global top 10 for the sub-category.

However, it should be noted the majority of respondents are working expats likely to benefit from employer-subsidised private health insurance, with the majority of Thailand’s expat retirees unlikely to support the findings on a cost basis. On the positive side, 90 per cent of expat parents seem well-pleased with their family life, noting Thai peoples’ positive attitude towards expat families with children.