Spain ranked in top ten destinations for expats, UK falls 21 places

It rose six places from last year because of the excellent quality of life, friendly population, low costs, and a slowly improving economy.

One British respondent puts it very simply: “We love Spain. The climate and the lifestyle suit us perfectly.”

However, Spain did have the worst rank regarding work with two-thirds reporting it unsatisfactory.

The survey asked 12,500 expats from 166 nationalities to rank their favourite countries according to family, friends and work.

Bahrain, Costa Rica and Mexico are the best countries to live in, respectively.

Bahrain reached number one as expats reported that settling into life in the Middle Eastern island nation is easy because residents can get by without learning the local language.

The UK slipped 21 places from last year to 54.

This is due to increased personal finance, cost of living and difficulty settling in. Yet career prospects were regarded very favourably.