While expats within the Eurozone feel the impact of the economic climate most acutely of all countries in this year's report, expats in Germany are bucking the trend seen elsewhere in the region.
In contrast to most European expats, those living in Germany report a very positive outlook in the current state of the economy. More than nine in ten (91%) expats in Germany believe that the economic situation in their country is either getting better or staying about the same, with a similar number reporting that they are satisfied with the current state of the economy (86%). In addition, the majority of expats in Germany (61%) think that things are generally heading in the right direction (compared to a global average of 37%) and associate the country with strong political stability (67%).
While Germany is in a stronger economic position than some of the European nations included in this year's survey, the country also attracts a different type of expat, which could help further explain the differing view of expats living in the country.
Expats in Germany are likely to be career-driven expats who have chosen to relocate to take advantage of job opportunities or financial gain as opposed to other European destinations that are popular with retirees or expat experiencers (those who move for a better quality of life).
For example, France and Spain remain popular with expat retirees (41% and 32% of expats in France and Spain respectively are retirees compared to only 7% in Germany) and expat experiencers. In contrast, more than half (55%) of those who moved to Germany expected to benefit from a better job, compared to just a third of those living in France (33%) and Spain (29%). In addition, half (49%) of expats in Germany moved there expecting financial gain, compared to just 22% and 18% of expats in France and Spain respectively.
As a result, expats in Germany have a different demographic make-up to those in many other European countries. One in four (23%) expats in Germany earn between $100,000-200,000, in stark contrast to those based in Spain where fewer than one in ten (8%) earn a salary in that range. They are also most likely to be working in the IT and internet sector (14%), manufacturing and construction (12%) and science and research (10%) and tend to be from English-speaking countries such as the USA (25%) and the UK (15%).
