Expatica Survey 2010: the results

The results revealed not only new findings in content opinion but also a qualitative depiction of expat lifestyle among our readers. Expatica would like to thank all those who took part in the 2010 Survey. Below is a brief summary of what we found.

Expatica’s 40-question survey varied from diving into questions about leisure and vacation time, to finding out the makeup of an Expatica expat’s work and home life.

"We expanded to Moscow last year, and we will open up in Portugal and South Africa soon," says Expatica CEO Mark Welling. "So our users will be coming from different countries in the near future."

So, what is the profile of the average Expatica expat?

The average Expatica user is a British woman in her early 30s.  She has been an expat for over five years, and the well-paid job her Bachelor’s Degree has earned her has resulted in ample vacation time, as well as a satisfying and stable life.

An average Expatica expat rents their home with a partner but without children to provide for (yet). We like to think of them as new-wave aristocrats, indulging in reading, films, travel and photography. They are also a healthy and active bunch, usually having a gym membership or jogging route.

"I think we see a trend that the average age of internationals is going down and they’re becoming a younger crowd", says Welling.

Most Expatica expats do not know how long they will be in their host country, and over half peruse the job market to stay up to date on opportunities. Nevertheless, Expatica users chose to live abroad for a healthy combination of work, play, experience, and a better quality of life.

More precisely, almost half of Expatica users said the UK, the US or India was their country of citizenship. The Netherlands draws the largest amount of traffic to Expatica, followed by Belgium and France.

"Normally, it is the United Kingdom and the United States, but India is catching up fast," says Welling. "I do think there are a lot of people from India with technical skills coming to Europe to find work."

Almost half of Expatica users are long-term expats of five or more years but uncertain about how long they will stay. The majority is well-educated with a Bachelors Degree or higher (almost 80 percent), yet half of the expats surveyed have been looking for new work and almost half will continue to do so within the next year.

How you use Expatica

An average Expatica user visits us a few times per month and browses all channels of the site — from jobs to news, events and Classifieds.

When asked what more Expatica could add, the top picks were language learning tools (63 percent) and reviews of their local cafes, restaurants and nightlife.

"Language learning tools are on the agenda now, as well as a restaurant channel with review tool," says Welling.

Over half of Expatica users agree that Expatica meets or exceeds their needs in local news, learning about their new country’s culture and keeping them updated about events. According to the expats polled, the area where Expatica could use improvement is in it’s usefulness as means of meeting and interacting with fellow expats.  About 40 percent said Expatica did not meet their needs with these social requests online. In contrast, Expatica does provide users with group and club listings, as well as hosting speed dating nights in Belgium and the Netherlands.

"We aim to interact more with our users through Facebook and Twitter, and our social platform forums will become more integrated and connected with social media at large in future," says Welling.

Expatica 2011