Hong Kong ranks highly this year in both the Expat Economics and Raising Children Abroad league tables, scoring 4th and 3rd respectively.
Hong Kong continues to act as a magnet for career driven expats due to its position as a world financial hub. The country is undoubtedly one of the best locations for expats seeking career opportunities with 70% of expats having moved there for job opportunities and 73% indicating they have more money now after moving. Wages for expats in Hong Kong are well above world averages as 55% of expats earn more than $150,000 against a world average of 17%. Respondents in Hong Kong also reported high levels of satisfaction with the state of the economy (90%).
Accommodation provides a slight drawback for expats living in the country, with 45% of expats paying much more than before for housing compared to a global average of 30%. Furthermore only 19% of expats agree that their standard of accommodation is better than before, against a world average of 39%. Another area of concern among expats in Hong Kong is healthcare - while it is seen as being good quality, it is also expensive. Only 16% of expats were able to find their healthcare costs reduced upon relocation, compared to a global average of 25%. This trend is also replicated across childcare, with a quarter (24%) of expats spending much more on the service following their move to Hong Kong than before, compared to a global average of 14%.
In a similar vein to expats in China, those in Hong Kong seem to find it difficult to socialise outside of their expat circle and integrate into the local community. Only one in ten (11%) expats in Hong Kong strongly agree that they have integrated in to the local community and a similar number (9%) strongly agree that they have tried to learn the local language. 80% of expats in Hong Kong socialise almost entirely with other expats.
Hong Kong ranks as the safest place to bring up a child. Nine in ten (91%) expats indicated that the safety of their child had increased since moving there. Two fifths (39%) of children are able to spend more time outdoors and half (48%) of parents in Hong Kong report that their children are spending more time with them since relocating.
"Be adventurous with food - there's a huge variety and it's cheap and delicious" – Expat in Hong Kong
