Climate and quality of life are Spain?s best selling points

If you’re betting on a record-breaking salary and the CEO’s job, forget it, but Spain has one of the world’s best qualities of life.

Whilst Singapore won out on the latest expat survey for its work opportunities, salaries and education facilities, Spain scraped into 14th overall place out of 31 world countries but only scored 27th place for economic conditions. However, its second-place ranking for the quality of expatriate life was a triumph for the eight out of ten respondents who praised the country’s climate and its provisions for a comfortable retirement.

Admittedly, quality of life means different things to different people, with surveys generally favouring ambitious expats looking for an upwardly mobile career path complete with all the trimmings. Given that locations providing such opportunities are almost always the most expensive places to live, quality of life and good weather may not be as important as they are for small business entrepreneurs, families and expat retirees. Economy, experience and family life are the three categories for the Expat Explorer survey, broken into a number of sub-categories such as healthcare, schooling and the friendliness of the locals. Spain came second in the experience category, just behind New Zealand, a nation which has traditionally attracted expat retirees from the UK, as has Spain.

Six out of 10 respondents rated the country highly in the quality of life sub-section, with the same percentage praising Spain’s healthcare and its conditions as regards wellbeing. Again, quality of life and climate were the main reasons for making the move to Spain, with the majority of expats arriving from the UK already in retirement. According to the survey, some 20 per cent were working full-time and just 14 per cent had young children. Another interesting statistic concerned Spanish expat professionals who left the country for better work opportunities, career advancement and higher salaries. Some 70 per cent believe their adopted country is a better place for those determined to climb the ladder of business success.