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The friendliest expat countries
I'm not a big fan of lists, so please don't be surprised at my dismay with Forbes.com's newest attempt to show how Western countries are full of the friendliest people on earth. In its latest "Top Ten" list, David Sutton identifies what he believes to be the world's friendliest expat countries. The top three on his list: Canada, Germany, and Australia.Please don't get me wrong. I think these countries are wonderful, and they clearly offer great working opportunities for people who hope to live abroad. However, I noticed a few unfortunate gaps in the list -- the biggest of which are Indonesia and Costa Rica. I believe these countries are full of happy and friendly expats. The article's obvious third world country oversights are dismissed by claiming that "cultural differences from the West [makes] integration difficult."
I would argue that the real issue here is that businessmen living abroad don't bother to integrate and adapt to their environments. It should certainly not be the host country's fault that it is a third world country and therefore unable to accommodate for a rich expat. As always, lists like these could create unnecessary fear in travelers and continue to widen the gap between privileged and unprivileged nations rather than bring people together and teach us how much can be learned about cultures unlike our own.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Business, Europe, North America, Germany, Canada, United States, Australia, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eva Feb 23rd 2009 6:06PM
Brenda, I think you're oversimplifying.
"David Sutton identifies what he believes to be the world's friendliest expat countries."
Actually, he's not giving his opinion. He's reporting on a survey of a few thousand expats, based on pretty specific criteria. Notably, the survey was asking about places where "relocators have a relatively easy time befriending locals, joining a local community group and learning the local language."
Since it's a survey, and not an opinion list, that also means that it's not a matter of "third world country oversights" so much as a fact -- those countries scored lower in the results. And yes, places like India and China are harder to integrate into. Which doesn't mean it might not be worth it to make the effort, but that wasn't the point of the survey, was it?
DJ Feb 24th 2009 4:51AM
I am very surprised that Germany is in the top 3. I lived there for several years, back in the 80s', and yes, they were very friendly. However, I now live in Belgium, but travel to Germany frequently, and have seen a HUGE difference in their attitude towards Americans. I, certainly, don't see them in the top 3. It's a beautiful country and a great place to visit, though.
mike edom May 4th 2009 4:23PM
I spent 6 months in eastern Iceland and i came back very desapointed of the attidude of the locals towards the expats , they didn`t try to make us fell at home at all , even in stores or other places of business , they had rough manners , not friendly at all ; I came back to Canada 2 mounths earlier than scheduled ; it is very sad , because Iceland is a beautifull country , full of wonderfull sceneries ,
too bad , the people are not very friendly .