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HSBC Survey | 19
b
Ensuring
y Germany (92%) and Australia (91%). Canada is also a favourite destina- tion of the Irish expat community (41%) also took this step when moving
tion for men and expats working in finance. to a new country.
Expats from Hong Kong are the most likely to make friends with other Only approximately one-tenth of expats living in Australia, 15% of peo-
expats with 89% of expats from Hong Kong saying that they did so when ple living in the US and 18% of people in the United
they moved to another country. Over three-quarters (84%) of expats in Kingdom learned the local language – in each case English.
Hong Kong also stated that they found it possible to make local friends.
The United Arab Emirates was revealed to be the most difficult country
in w
quality
hich to make friends with the locals – only half (54%) of expats sur-
veyed said that they had made friends who were locals.
Interestingly, only a quarter (23%) of expats surveyed living in the UAE
said that they found it difficult to make any type of friend – including those
from the expat community. This could suggest that expats living in the UAE
are more likely to have friends from within the expat community, rather
than local people.
Buying property and setting up a new business
Over half of expats who move to France, Canada or Spain decided to pur-
chase property there.
France came top in this category, with 64% of respondents having
bought property once they moved to this country – it also scored highly for
setting up a business*, with roughly a quarter (23%) of expats saying they
had done so. French expats tend to be middle aged – the mean average age
from the survey was 49.7 – possibly explaining why they are able to buy
Joining a local community group homes and businesses. Overall, two-thirds (65%) of over 55 year olds expats
Almost half of all respondents said that they had joined a local community had bought property, compared with just 32% of under 55 year olds.
group since moving to a new country. Expats living in Germany were most Singapore ranked as the most popular country for setting up a business,
likely to join a community group (65% responded that they had done so), with 26% of expats saying they had done so, followed by 25% in Spain.
followed by around half of expats living in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada Expats in Asia are the least likely to buy a home – India, China and
and the US. Singapore came last in the survey for purchasing a property. Just 6% of
Australia, despite scoring highly for making friends with the locals, came expats in India had taken this step, followed by 12% in China and a quarter
last in the ‘joining a community group’ category. in Singapore.
Just 38% of expats said that they had joined a group – possibly due to the Expats from the UK are the most likely to buy property abroad, almost
fact that the expats surveyed living in Australia half claimed to have done so, followed by 40% of South Africans and 37%
tend to be younger than in other countries (51% are 18-34 years old), of Indians. Unsurprisingly, the majority of people who bought property
and so may find it easier to meet people without the need for an organised were in the £200,000 + salary bracket.
social group.
Interestingly, expats who originate from Australia came top of the table
for joining a club or group when they moved to another country, with 57%
being keen to make friends in this way. Expats from the US (54%) and
Brazil (53%) were also fans of joining community groups, in contrast with
just a third (32%) of German expats.
Learning the local language
Expats living in Europe were most likely to learn the local language.
Germany came top in this category with threequartersof expats learning
German, followed by 70% of expats in Spain and Belgium who were also
likely to adopt the language of their country of residence.
Expats originating from the Americas were most likely to learn a new
language – over half (51%) of expats from the US and half (50%) of
Brazilians made an effort to learn the local language. A significant propor-
www.investmentinternational.com June 2009 Investment International
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