What makes Vietnam rank 14th in the 15 best destinations for foreigners in 2023?

InterNations, the world's largest expat network with over 4 million members, recently released its annual report to select the best destinations for expats to live in 2023. Vietnam ranked 14th on this list with an evaluation index that InterNations considered "unbeatable".

InterNations' annual Expat Insider 2023 report surveyed 12,000 people from 171 countries and territories based on 56 criteria. The final results show that the top 4 countries in the 2023 list are Mexico, Spain, Panama and Malaysia. The remaining 11 countries/territories are Taiwan (China), Thailand, Costa Rica, Philippines, Bahrain, Portugal, UAE, Oman, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil.

Vietnam - a destination for affordable living

In the “Personal Finance” index, InterNations’ Expat Insider 2023 report stated: “Vietnam is unbeatable”, “Vietnam is a destination for affordable living”.

This assessment is based on the fact that Vietnam continues to hold the No. 1 position in the “Personal Finance” index, the leading position since 2022. Mexico and the Philippines are ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively in this index.

The Expat Insider 2023 Personal Finance Index covers 53 destinations around the world, with a minimum sample size of 50 respondents per destination. The index is based on three factors: “Satisfaction with financial situation”; “Overall cost of living” and “Whether the respondent’s disposable household income is sufficient to lead a comfortable life”.

According to the survey results, Vietnam ranked first in two elements of the index and just missed out on the top three in the third. More than three-quarters of expats living in Vietnam (77%) rated the cost of living as favorable (compared to 44% globally). This is more than three times the global average of those who said it was “very good” (43% vs. 13%). Expats were satisfied with their financial situation (71% vs. 58% globally) – nearly two-fifths (39%) were completely satisfied (compared to 21% globally).

“What I love most about Vietnam is the low cost of living,” said an American living in Vietnam who participated in the survey.

In a recent conversation with reporters, talking about his decision to choose Da Nang , Vietnam as his place to live for more than 11 years after having traveled to many countries, Mr. Darin, a Canadian citizen, now 60 years old, said: “In Vietnam, wherever you go, there are beautiful landscapes and cheap living costs. But most of all, I find Vietnam very safe, with a low crime rate. And especially, the Vietnamese people are very friendly, willing to help each other and even foreigners.”

The report also found that around seven in 10 respondents (71%) agreed that their household disposable income was more than enough to live comfortably in Vietnam (compared to 44% globally). And more than a quarter of respondents (27%) even said it was more than enough (compared to 6% globally).

Another interesting aspect is that nearly one-third of people working in Vietnam (32%) are senior managers/executives (compared to 12% globally).

Another interesting aspect is that nearly one-third of people working in Vietnam (32%) are senior managers/executives (compared to 12% globally).
Expat Insider 2023, InterNations

Vietnam is also rated by the expat community as friendly and easy to make friends, ranking 14th in the “Ease of Settling in” index, with positive factors being “Friendliness of Locals” (ranked 5th), “Ease of Making Friends” (ranked 11th) and “Culture and Welcome” (ranked 16th).

In addition, Vietnam is also among the Asian countries that are highly rated by foreigners in the “Working Abroad” index (ranked 29th). In the 4 evaluation factors of this index, Vietnam ranks 6th in the “Work and Leisure” factor, and 17th in the “Salary and Job Security” factor. The remaining 2 factors, “Career Prospects” and “Work Culture and Satisfaction”, are ranked 37th and 44th, respectively.

What makes Vietnam rank 14th in the 15 best destinations for foreigners in 2023? photo 1

Expats in Vietnam participate in the Expat Insider 2023 survey. (Source: InterNations)

However, in the “Quality of Life” index, there are some factors that Vietnam is not highly rated such as: “Entertainment and relaxation options” (31st place), “Security and safety” (34th place), “Travel and transit” and “ Health care” (44th place). In the “Environment and climate” factor, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and the Philippines are Asian countries with poor quality.

In the “Essentials for Expats” index, Vietnam ranked only 44th with only one factor rated highest, “Housing” at 7th place, and was not rated highly in the remaining 4 factors: “Digital Life”, “Administrative Topics” and “Language”.

Large scale survey but not intended to confirm

InterNations said the Expat Insider 2023 survey was conducted between February 1 and February 28, 2023. The online questionnaire was promoted through the InterNations community, company newsletters and company social media profiles, but responses were not limited to InterNations' member network.

The target audience includes all types of expats, from expats on assignment - that is, employees sent abroad by their company - and expats who are hired to expats who are relocating on their own for a better quality of life and many other reasons.

A total of 12,065 expats participated in the survey, representing 171 nationalities and living in 172 countries and territories around the world.

The results are published in this report as an overall ranking of popular expat destinations, as well as additional information on five thematic indicators: Quality of life, Ease of settling in, Working abroad, Personal finance and Expat essentials.

A country/territory needs a sample size of at least 50 survey respondents to be listed in any index and overall ranking. In 2023, 53 destinations met this requirement. However, in many destinations, the sample size exceeded 75 or even 100 respondents. In Germany, for example, nearly 1,000 expats participated in the Expat Insider 2023 survey.

For the rankings, survey respondents were asked to rate 56 different factors related to different aspects of expat life on a scale of 1-7. The ranking process emphasized respondents’ personal satisfaction with these factors and considered both emotional topics (e.g. making friends with locals) and more practical aspects (e.g. housing costs) with equal weight.

Respondents’ ratings of the individual factors were grouped into various combinations for a total of 16 sub-categories and their averages were used to create the five thematic indices mentioned above. These five indices, as well as responses to the question “Overall, how happy are you with your life abroad?”, were then averaged to give an overall country rating.

However, InterNations also stressed: “The rankings are not intended to endorse any particular destination. Rather, they are a comparison of how expats rate their day-to-day lives abroad, and the index does not cover every possible aspect of life abroad.”

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