Mexico revealed as the ideal settling down spot for expats right now

The annual Expat Insider survey named Mexico the best landing spot for expats to live and work in 2023. The country has proven popular in the last decade with it making the top five in the surveys since the inaugural edition back in 2014 and was the only North American country to break the top ten.

Mexico is an all-around popular destination currently, with five of its cities making the world's top 25 best cities list for 2023.

The survey was conducted by gathering the opinions of 12,065 expats from around the world. Categories focusing on the aspects of expat life such as settling, finances, career prospects, housing, local friendliness and more were put to the survey respondents.

A key factor for foreigners contributing to Mexico coming out on top in this year's Expat Insider survey was the ability to settle into the country seamlessly. Also, the expats found the local residents in Mexico to be friendly towards them and felt that they were welcoming in return to new foreign visitors.

Moving to a new country can be difficult and especially isolating, but Mexico is proven to be open-minded to meeting new people as 74 per cent of expats felt it was straightforward to get to know the locals compared to just 43 per cent around the world. The culture in Mexico is also easy to get accustomed to whilst finding a home is relatively stress-free as accommodation is not difficult to find and is affordable.

From a financial perspective the expats in Mexico are pleased as 71 per cent state they are satisfied with the overall living costs, compared to only 44 per cent worldwide. Additionally, 80 per cent are happy with their current financial state and that is higher than the global figure of 58 per cent.

Regarding the work life in Mexico, the surveyed foreigners are satisfied with their personal career prospects, pay levels and work-life balance. A strong 90 per cent of foreigners in Mexico are happy with living in the country however there are some negative aspects to living there with the political instability and safety for the expats being factors.

Coming in second place behind Mexico was Spain, with the nation being a worthwhile destination for expats particularly due to its options for leisure activities, such as recreational sports. The well renown bright and sunny weather in Spain also plays a crucial part as it allows the expats to go outside more often to enjoy leisure activities.

Another key factor in pleasing foreigners living in Spain is the night lifestyle and culture with 88 per cent of survey respondents pleased with it, compared to 68 per cent globally. As well as expats in Mexico, the ones in Spain are also happy with their financial situations whilst living in the country, with more than two in three of them pleased with the overall living costs.

Slight negatives for expats out in Spain come from the career aspect as just under half (49 per cent) of them feel that their career prospects have been boosted since migrating to the country. Also, 36 per cent of the expats are not satisfied with the state of the local job market.

Spain is the highest-rated European spot for expats from the Expat Insider survey and is joined by only one other nation from Europe in the top ten rankings with Portugal taking the tenth spot.

Panama follows behind Spain in the third spot, with the settling down factor key for expats enjoying themselves there. It is also easy to make friends in Panama and the expats feel welcome there.

Like Spain, the weather is also a factor in pleasing foreigners living in Panama whilst many of them feel housing is affordable and their financial positions are in a good state. Slight negatives for foreigners in Panama are career-related as there is uncertainty when it comes to job safety and the local jobs market is not encouraging.

The rest of the top ten nations on the list include representation from Asia, Central America and the Middle East. Representing Asia are fourth-placed Malaysia, fifth-placed Taiwan, sixth-placed Thailand and eighth-placed Philippines.

Seventh-placed Costa Rica joins Panama as the Central American nations making the top ten whilst Bahrain was the sole Middle Eastern country to make the top ten list by coming in ninth spot. The United Arab Emirates and Oman just missed out on bringing further Middle Eastern representation to the top 10 as they were placed in 11th and 12th positions respectively.

Brazil was the highest-rated nation from South America as it came in 15th spot whilst Kenya proved to be expats' favourite African destination as it came in at 18th place.

Evidently, if expats are unable for whatever circumstance to move to Mexico or Spain, their best chance at settling down in a convenient destination is somewhere in Asia or Central America.

Elsewhere, foreigners living in the Austrian capital city of Vienna are helping contribute to the area in the tech sphere with their expertise and experience. Due to its growing ecosystem and international community, Vienna is set to become a global hub for tech organisations and start-up companies in the near future.