Expat Insider 2024: Vietnam is the world’s most affordable destination for foreigners
19 Jul 2024
According to Expat Insider 2024 report – one of the world’s largest expat surveys conducted by InterNations, Vietnam is the most affordable country in the world for foreigners, ranking first in No. 53 destination when it comes to personal finances.
This is also the 4th consecutive year that Vietnam has ranked first in this criterion. In addition to the first ranking in terms of personal finance, out of 53 destinations, Vietnam ranks 14th in terms of working conditions for foreigners (such as career prospects, salaries and job security), 29th in essential services for foreigners such as digital life, etc housing and language and ranked 40th for quality of life.
The Expat Insider 2024 report, with the participation of more than 12,000 foreigners in 174 countries and territories around the world, assesses criteria including the best and worst places to live with foreigners, quality of life, working conditions abroad and personal finances. Particularly for the Personal Finance index, InterNations asked survey participants to rank their satisfaction in 3 areas: general cost of living, satisfaction with financial status and whether the disposable income of households is enough to have a comfortable life. After Vietnam’s No. 1 position, the next names in the group of 10 best countries in descending order are Cambodia, Indonesia, Panama, the Philippines, India, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil and China.
Not only does it have a low cost of living, foreigners living in Vietnam are also paid higher than the average of foreigners living in other countries. Up to 19% of foreigners living in Vietnam surveyed said that they receive an annual income of 150,000 USD or more, while this rate in other countries is only about 10%. In addition, the overall job satisfaction level of foreigners in Vietnam is also very high. Ms. Kathrin Chudoba, Marketing Director of InterNations, said that Vietnam has miraculously improved from 24th place in 2023 to 3rd place in 2024 for the “Work culture and satisfaction” group. According to the report, in general, “work-life balance is more important than career advancement” in Vietnam, notably less than half (46%) of expats in the country work full-time, compared to the global average of 57%. About 1 in 5 foreigners in Vietnam (21%) work part-time and about 18% of foreigners have retired.
Regarding the best destination for expats globally, the Expat Insider 2024 report explores how expats feel about other aspects of life abroad, based on 5 indicators: general happiness, quality of life, ease of applying for immigration, etc work abroad and the “Essentials for Foreigners” index based on administrative, housing, digital life and language conditions. Of the 53 destinations globally, there are 4 Asian countries in the top 10 this year: along with Indonesia in 3rd place, Thailand in 6th place, Vietnam is in 8th place, right above the Philippines in 9th place.