Expat Explorer 2009 Survey Results: Part One - Expat Economics

Hi Everyone, If you haven't seen the flurry of site and blog posts on this topic in the past few days, yes, HSBC International have now released the results of their first 2009 Explorer Survey.
This year's survey was completed by 3,146 people in 30 different industries and 50 countries. According to their Expat Explorer Blog:

"There are lots of interesting results regarding the credit crunch and how expats are managing in the current economy, such as:

• US, Thailand and South Africa are the most affected expat locations;


• Almost half of expats in UK considering returning home;


• Emerging markets rank above established centres for expat finances;


• UK is the worst for saving behind Spain and France; and


• Despite economic crisis, expats are wealthier and save more than in country of origin."

Interestingly, the countries offering the best, overall "[economic] quality of life" for expats were: the Russian Federation; Qatar; then Saudi Arabia.

The highest proportion of expats earning more than US$250k are in Russia (30%), then Hong Kong (27%), then Switzerland (26%) and India (both 25%).

If you are interested in more than just headlines, there is an 8 minute video about the results here and/or you can read the full survey results here.

Best wishes, Andrea.