Portugal fell from fourth to tenth place in the Expat Insider rankings due to factors such as bureaucracy and career opportunities.
Portugal is losing its place on the list of best destinations for expats, falling 6 places in the Expat Insider 2023 rankings. Now 10th after last year, 4th place. The quality of life is one of the plus points for expats who choose to come here to work, but the labor market is disappointing.
The ranking produced by Internazionale, which includes 53 countries and is again led by Mexico, evaluates several indicators, with Portugal only in the top 10 in the quality of life index (7th). Indicators such as ease of installation (13th) and personal finances (12th) still stand out in foreigners’ assessment of the country.
On an index measuring the essentials for expats, the country ranks 31st, with an even worse result (43rd) in the assessment of working abroad. Among the essential components, foreigners criticize Portugal’s bureaucracy and “one in four (25%) are not satisfied with the availability of government services online,” they note in a report.
But what penalizes the country’s position in this ranking is working abroad: “The country has a poor performance in the sub-category Industry Outlook” (49th), and local job prospects also stand out negatively. Even so, although the assessment of working hours is negative, Portugal is above the world average in the balance between professional and personal life.
In this ranking of 12 thousand participants, the platform speaks Spanish: Mexico, Spain and Panama are the best destinations for foreigners, which means they are the easiest places to integrate. Locations in Asia continue, with Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand next on the index.
Some European countries are already at the bottom of the list, such as Norway, Germany, Italy and Malta, mainly due to the difficulty of establishing foreigners.
Check out the top 10 countries for expats: