South Africa has been ranked the 6th best place for people working overseas in the largest ever global survey of expats.

According to the second annual Expat Experience survey commissioned by HSBC Bank International, expats in 30 industries in more than 50 countries were surveyed about their quality of life.  

Canada, Australia and Thailand were ranked in the top 3, with the United States, Spain, Switzerland and Germany all ranked behind South Africa. The United Kingdom was placed at 23rd.

Expats had to rank the countries in categories like finding accommodation, finding schools for children, banking, food, healthcare, setting up utilities and making friends.

South Africa was ranked as the country where expats found the biggest improvement in pursuing their hobbies and was also the top country for settling down. 55% of the expats surveyed in South Africa had been living there for more than 5 years.

According to the HSBC report there is a preference for making friends within the expat community and not the local community. The exception to this is Brazil, which ranks highest for local community integration, followed by South Africa and Canada where 91% of expats made local friends easily.

South Africa also placed high in the categories ‘finding somewhere to live’, ‘quality of health’ and ‘social life’. 

For more information, visit the HSBC's Expat Experience 2009 webpage.