Expats in CZE are safe, healthy & a bit lonely

The Czech Republic is the second best country in the world for expat families, considering the availability and cost of childcare and education, as well as family well-being. And the fourth best country in the world when it comes to travel and transport.

But we might not be as friendly to expat families as we’d think. In a ranking of 67 countries around the world for ease of settling in, the Czech Republic ranked 58 overall. We scored #37 for feeling welcome, #48 for finding friends and  #65 for friendliness.

This is according to the Expat Insider 2016 index by InterNations, which surveyed more than 14,000 respondents. They were asked questions on quality of life, working, family life, cost of living, and personal finance.

All in all, the Czech Republic is one of the survey’s “biggest winners” this year, moving up 12 positions to edge into the top 10. In 2015, the country came in at #22 in the rankings.

In another global survey commissioned by HSBC Expat this year, almost 27,000 expats based in over 100 countries were questioned about economics, experience and family. The Czech Republic scored #4 best country. And when it comes to the overall cost of children, expats think we are #1 in the world.

According to the Czech Statistical Office, there are 443,000 foreigners with a temporary residence living in the Czech Republic (including Slovaks). 185,000 of these expats are EU citizens.