7th, 11th, or top spot? Where does Spain rank in expat life quality?

What makes Spain a top choice for expat living? The answer is all down to you

Summertime can be a drag for journalists. On the hunt for news stories, the best one can sometimes do is proclaim that ‘The UK will be hotter than parts of Greece this week’ (yes, the mountainous, snow-capped bits); or run semi-fearful stories of Great White Sharks being spotted 50 miles – yes!, 50 miles – off the Cornish coast…

It’s a slow time of year, with most newsmakers – ie, PR professionals – away on their spirit-finding hols to Thailand or this year’s in vogue destination. But as soon as September kicks into gear the stories flood in thick and fast, with October even busier. Hence, as I flicked on my laptop today I was confronted with not one, but TWO surveys proclaiming to definitively rank the best places in the world for expats to live.

One of them, from expat socialising network InterNations, found that Spain is the seventh best place in the world for expat living. The other, commissioned by NatWest bank, put Spain a more lowly 11^th place in terms of expat quality of life. So many surveys, so little time.

And this was when another truism of journalism hit me – 87 per cent of statistics are made up, including that one. However, the point still stood – how could two surveys proclaiming to tackle the same thorny issue be so far apart? And it wasn’t just Spain that found itself split, either – the Expat Insider report from InterNations placed Ecuador as the top expat destination in 2014. Yes, Ecuador of South America, followed by Luxembourg, Mexico, Switzerland and the USA.

Beach, sunshine and sangria? Or solid good schools and a solid career?

Over on the NatWest Quality of Life Index, Australia topped the charts, with Canada in second place, UAE third, Singapore fourth and China fifth. With the USA down in ninth and Ecuador and Luxembourg nowhere to be seen, Spain actually was able to boast one of the best ‘aggregate’ scores between the two surveys. That’s how you skew a story in your favour.

Impressive? Well, not quite. Digging a little deeper (journalist-speak for reading both press releases fully), it quickly transpired that the latter survey was focused on Brits’ needs only, while the former rated expats of all creeds and countries, and thus skewed the results slightly, particularly in response to the Personal Finance Index (the cost of living in Ecuador being extremely cheap).

Overall, the InterNations study did reveal some interesting results on attitudes towards Spain, with respondents giving the country a 94 per cent approval rating for personal safety (ahead of a worldwide average of 85 per cent) and a table-topping score of 82 per cent in making newcomers feel welcome. Those two factors alone are cause for celebration.

Spain scored a little more lowly when it came to making friends, with only 59 per cent believing it was easy to do so as an expat in Spain, and came 23^rd in the ‘ease of linguistic integration’, but then again, most non-Brits would also find moving to an English language country easier too, given the proclivity of most people for learning English as their preferred second language.

The NatWest survey was interesting in that it assessed British expats’ views on life quality, with a clear emphasis on wealth and health. Spain was actually the second-highest ranked European country after France, yet this survey was dominated by countries that boast both a strong economy and plentiful job opportunities – which are obviously important but by no means the only factor in deciding where to emigrate too – as well as a definite ‘English flavour’.

Indeed, neither of the reports ranked property prices or ease of purchasing a home overseas in their surveys. If they had done, very few could beat out Spain in terms of choice, transparency, affordability and build quality.

As it stands, the two surveys served to show one thing – the ideal overseas destination is one that suits your particular needs, which is why we regularly try to tell you exactly what to expect when moving to Spain. It is not for everyone, but I could just as easily conduct a Spain-weighted poll tomorrow and concur that Spain really is the best place for expats.

I could, theoretically, but it’s early October and there are a ton of press releases to get through; thankfully none of which are titled “Grey squirrel stole my shopping”…