Expat Explorer Survey: Expat Economics

St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

HSBC has just released the first segment of its 2009 Expat Explorer Survey, Expat Economics. Over 3100 expats working in 26 countries were questioned about their financial circumstances. The survey respondents were all expats who were employed full time in their expat country. Some of the findings were no surprise, but others are worth noting.

Expats in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries whose economies are growing rapidly did well. So did expats in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. In fact, most of the positive movement was in the East.

Expats surveyed were able to save more if they were in Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India and UAE than they could at home. Expats in France, Spain, UK, Japan and the USA saved less. Disposable income was highest in Qatar, Russia, Japan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, lowest in Belgium, Australia, Germany, Canada and France.

Expats in the US and UK were most likely to cut back their spending on essentials.

The survey also looked at quality of life regionally, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. The report didn’t specify what the quality of life rankings included, but their results were a little surprising: Switzerland, Qatar, Russia and Mexico held the top spots for their respective regions.

The biggest surprise to me was the country that’s home to the wealthiest expats – Russia.

You can download the full report here.

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