Manama, the capital of Bahrain, has the top spot as the best city for expatriates in 2017. Out of 51 cities ranked on the basis of expat responses, this GCC capital is one among 6 major cities in the region on the ranking. The InterNations survey, published on November 14, ranks them by a variety of factors from the areas quality of urban living, getting settled, urban work life, as well as finance and housing.
Read our travel guide to Bahrain here.
The ranking is based on data collected in the annual Expat Insider survey, conducted by InterNations. With nearly 13,000 respondents living and working abroad, Expat Insider 2017 is one of the most extensive expat studies
worldwide.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai fall in the top 20 cities at ranks 15 and 17 respectively.
Top 10 expat cities of the world
| Rank | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manama | Bahrain |
| 2 | Prague | Czech Republic |
| 3 | Madrid | Spain |
| 4 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
| 5 | Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| 6 | Barcelona | Spain |
| 7 | Johannesburg | South Africa |
| 8 | Bangkok | Thailand |
| 9 | Basel | Switzerland |
| 10 | Frankfurt am Main | Germany |
Manama achieves its best results in the Getting Settled Index, where it follows Kuala Lumpur in second place. Expats particularly appreciate how easy it is to live in the city without speaking the local language: an impressive 92 per cent of respondents agree that this is the case. The majority (59 per cent) considers it very easy to live in Manama without Arabic language skills.
Also read this list of countries with the highest salaries for expat nurses.
The best cities for career opportunities were also rated. A vast majority of expats in Amsterdam (78 per cent), London (74 per cent), Beijing (70 per cent), Prague (68 per cent), and Munich (66 per cent) rates the local career opportunities positively, compared to a global average of only 49 percent.
