Which country offers better quality of life to raise children

Sweden is the best country for families to move to, according to a survey, offering the best quality of life and chance for improvement of health and wellbeing.

Family

In a survey which measures the experiences of expat families around the world, Sweden topped the tables for the second year running for children, with three quarters of expat parents saying that they'd seen an improvement in their child's quality of life after moving to the Nordic country – compared to fewer than two thirds (60 per cent) globally.

Childcare in Sweden gets the highest praise of any country's – with three-quarters of expat families in Sweden saying its quality of early years care is higher than in their home country. This is hardly surprising – Sweden has among the most generous childcare benefits in the world. And despite possible concerns over long, cold winters or short daylight hours, seven in 10 parents reported an improvement in their child's health and wellbeing since moving to Sweden.

Nearly half (43 per cent) of expat parents globally reported that the quality of education abroad was superior to that available at home - though the survey did not specify respondents' home countries - with the top countries for education being Singapore (75 per cent), the Czech Republic (64 per cent) and Russia (63 per cent).

Cost

High standards come at a high cost, according to the report, which was conducted by HSBC, as nearly two-thirds of expats reported that raising a child abroad was more expensive than at home, but nearly nine in 10 expat parents said that their child's quality of life had improved or remained the same.

Quality of life

When it comes to quality of life, New Zealand and Spain came top as destinations for quality of life, culture and integration. New Zealand drew 59 per cent of its expats with specifically because of a perceived improved quality of life, while nearly three-quarters of expats in Spain said they enjoyed immersing themselves in local culture – significantly higher than the global average of 61 per cent, and quite at odds with reports of Brits retiring but failing to integration on the Costa del Sol.

Homely

When it comes to feeling at home right away, Canada was again elected the most welcoming country to expats, with over two-thirds of immigrants to the country saying the North American country was friendlier than their home country.

Income

And yet, while Switzerland, New Zealand and Sweden topped the economics, experience and family expat league tables, respectively, Singapore took the top spot in HSBC's ‘expat Explorer' country league table overall, for one simple reason: money. Nearly two-thirds of expats in Singapore reported an increase in their earnings upon resettling in the Asian country. By contrast, the United Kingdom came 22nd in the overall table.

The best destinations for expats

1. Singapore


2. New Zealand


3. Canada


4. Czech Republic


5. Switzerland


6. Norway


7. Austria


8. Sweden


9. Bahrain


10. Germany

You can learn more about the expats' ratings of 45 host countries via HSBC's expat Explorer interactive tool. Now in its ninth year, expat Explorer is the largest and one of the longest running surveys of expats, with 26,871 respondents sharing their views on life abroad including careers, financial wellbeing, quality of life and ease of settling for children.

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