expats in spain are happiest

The survey asked expatriates living in a number of jurisdictions, including the UAE, New Zealand, South Africa, the US and Europe, to rank different aspects of their life on an index.

The index included categories asking respondents to rate their quality of life, cost of living, whether they are financially better off and whether their overall happiness had increased since leaving the UK.

Overall, 68% of those polled by Lloyds said they felt happier since leaving the UK, although this figure is much higher for some jurisdictions including Spain which ranked number one for overall happiness with 75.9%. Expatriates living in the Mediterranean country ranked it highly in all categories, with 80% agreeing they have a lower cost of living, 71% saying they are financial better off and 77% saying they have a better quality of life.

The second happiest group of expatriates, according to the survey, live in Canada, while Germany comes in at a close third. Interestingly, while 71% of expatriates living in Germany said they were happier now than when in the UK, 53% said they said the cost of living was higher, suggesting this is not a strong factor in determining overall happiness.

Not surprisingly, those living in the low tax environment of the United Arab Emirates said they are financially better off, whoever 78% of respondents said the cost of living was not lower than in the UK.

Those who travelled to the Antipodes were amoung the least happy, with a staggering 50% of those living in New Zealand saying they are not happier now than when they were living in the UK. Interestingly, 79% of expatriates in New Zealand said they had a better quality of life. Australia also fared badly, coming in sixth, behind France, out of the nine rate countries.

Nicholas Boys Smith of Lloyds TSB International said: “Much has been made of the gloomy economic outlook in Spain and the government’s austerity programme, but despite this stream of bad news, British expats think their financial prospects are better there than in the UK. But more importantly, it seems a good quality of life, perhaps including the sunny weather and the laidback Mediterranean lifestyle, are contributing to Spain’s place as number one for general happiness.” 

“These findings show that there is a real variety of decisions to be made when choosing where to emigrate. Expats who choose a country solely based on financial prospects may find they compromise on quality of life, or vice versa. Happiness is influenced by many different factors which need to be considered together – for example New Zealand was thought to have the best quality of life, but actually ranked lowest for overall happiness.”

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