The 10 Best Countries for Expats in 2026: SE Asia Scores Three Spots
10 hours ago
InterNations has released the results of its 2026 Expat Insider survey, and the latest rankings offer plenty of encouragement for people considering a life abroad. Three Southeast Asian countries – Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia – have made the global top 10, alongside destinations ranging from Panama and Mexico to Spain, Portugal, and Luxembourg.
Panama takes the top spot for the third consecutive year, followed by Mexico, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Brazil. Spain ranks sixth, Singapore seventh, Portugal eighth, Malaysia ninth, and Luxembourg completes the top 10.
The survey is based on responses from 7,786 expats representing 162 nationalities. InterNations evaluates destinations across five broad areas: Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Personal Finance, and Expat Essentials. To qualify for the 2026 ranking, each destination needed at least 50 respondents.
As always with surveys of this kind, the results should be viewed as a measure of how expats perceive their lives rather than an objective assessment of each country’s merits. That distinction matters. A country can offer superb infrastructure, healthcare, career opportunities, or natural beauty and still perform poorly if its foreign residents find it difficult to make friends, deal with bureaucracy, or afford housing.
A TOP FIVE DOMINATED BY LIFESTYLE1. Panama
Panama retains the number-one position for the third year running, helped by an unusually strong performance across almost every category. It ranks first for both Working Abroad and Personal Finance, second for Ease of Settling In and Expat Essentials, and sixth for Quality of Life.
Some 87% of expats say they are happy with life abroad, compared with 70% globally, while 90% say housing is easy to find. Panama is also a major retirement destination: 37% of respondents are already retired, compared with 14% globally.
The appeal is easy to understand. Panama combines a tropical environment with a US-dollar economy, relatively manageable living costs, straightforward access to housing, and a well-established international community. For many residents, however, the attraction goes beyond the practicalities. The slower pace of life and strong local social culture are repeatedly cited as reasons for staying.
2. Mexico
Mexico takes second place and remains the world’s easiest country for expats to settle into, according to InterNations. It ranks first in the overall Ease of Settling In Index, with top scores for local friendliness, finding friends, and cultural integration.
Some 73% of expats say making local friends is easy, compared with just 39% globally, while 34% describe their social circle as mostly local residents – twice the global average. Mexico also ranks third for Personal Finance, with 81% saying their disposable income is enough for a comfortable life.
The country is not without significant caveats. Safety and security rank only 25th, with 68% of expats rating their personal safety positively, compared with 81% globally. Mexico’s appeal is therefore particularly dependent on where someone chooses to live, rather than being evenly distributed across the country.
3. Thailand
Thailand remains one of the world’s great expat destinations, taking third place overall and earning the distinction of having the happiest expats in the 2026 survey. Some 86% report being happy with life abroad.
Thailand ranks second for Personal Finance and first for cost of living. Housing is rated the most affordable of any destination in the survey, while the country also ranks third for Ease of Settling In. Healthcare performs strongly, too, with the quality of medical care ranking fourth globally.
There are trade-offs. Thailand ranks last for Environment & Climate, largely because of poor air-quality perceptions, while political stability and freedom of expression also score poorly. Administrative issues remain a frustration, particularly for those trying to open local bank accounts or access government services online.
Still, for retirees, remote workers, families, and people simply looking for a warmer and more affordable lifestyle, Thailand’s combination of food, culture, healthcare, housing, and social accessibility remains hard to beat.
4. United Arab Emirates
The UAE is the highest-ranked destination in the Middle East, taking fourth place overall and standing out particularly for career-oriented expats.
It ranks first globally for both Expat Essentials and Career Prospects. The country’s highly international environment, English-language accessibility, efficient administration, extensive infrastructure, and broad employment opportunities continue to attract professionals from around the world.
Dubai tends to dominate the international perception of the UAE, but expats living in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, and other emirates point to a somewhat broader picture, including quieter communities, beaches, mountains, and a less frenetic lifestyle.
The financial equation is less impressive than its overall ranking might suggest. The UAE places only 18th for Personal Finance, reflecting the high cost of housing and everyday life in some of its most popular expat centres.
5. Brazil
Brazil enters the top five for the first time, with its strongest results coming from happiness, friendliness, culture, and ease of settling in.
The attraction is familiar to anyone who has spent time in Brazil: social life tends to be informal and inclusive, and expats frequently praise the warmth of local people. Brazil ranks fifth for Ease of Settling In and ninth for both job satisfaction and the local job market.
São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis, and other cities offer very different lifestyles, while Brazil’s enormous geographic diversity means the country can accommodate everything from big-city living to coastal and more relaxed communities. Portuguese is essential for anyone intending to integrate properly, however, and safety remains an important consideration.
SIX THROUGH 10: EUROPE AND SOUTHEAST ASIA6. Spain
Spain is the highest-ranked European country, and its sixth-place overall result is driven primarily by an exceptional quality of life. It ranks first globally in the Quality of Life Index, with particularly strong results for climate and weather, healthcare, leisure, and travel opportunities.
The trade-off is employment. Spain ranks just 26th for Working Abroad, with career prospects and the local job market proving considerably less attractive than the country’s lifestyle. Work-life balance, however, is a strong eighth globally. For many retirees, remote workers, and people whose priority is lifestyle rather than climbing a corporate ladder, that is a perfectly reasonable bargain.
7. Singapore
Singapore’s seventh-place result is particularly notable given its position as one of the world’s most expensive cities. It ranks second globally for Quality of Life and fourth for Expat Essentials, with exceptional public transport, safety, healthcare, digital infrastructure, and administrative services.
The downside is obvious: cost. Singapore ranks 30th for Personal Finance, and housing is particularly expensive. It also ranks only 12th for Ease of Settling In, suggesting that while Singapore is remarkably efficient and comfortable, building a genuinely local social circle can require more effort.
8. Portugal
Portugal continues to offer a compelling lifestyle proposition, ranking eighth overall and fourth for Personal Finance. It also ranks seventh for Ease of Settling In, reflecting its combination of relatively affordable living costs, pleasant climate, and welcoming social environment.
For career-driven expats, however, Portugal is less convincing. It ranks 29th for Working Abroad, with relatively modest incomes and weak scores for fair pay and workplace flexibility. Like Spain, it is arguably better suited to people who value lifestyle, climate, and quality of life over maximizing their professional prospects.
9. Malaysia
And then there is Malaysia, still ranked reasonably well, and comfortably inside the world’s top 10.
Ninth place is hardly a bad result, particularly when three Southeast Asian destinations have made the top 10. Malaysia also remains one of the world’s most financially attractive destinations for expats, ranking fifth for Personal Finance. It ranks third for Expat Essentials, with particularly strong results for language and housing. Almost three-quarters of respondents say it is easy to live in Malaysia without speaking the local language, while housing remains both relatively affordable and readily available.
For anyone actually living here, the appeal is hardly mysterious. Malaysia offers an unusually useful combination of tropical weather, cultural and culinary diversity, widespread English, modern infrastructure, good private healthcare, international schools, and a cost of living that remains attractive by Western standards. Kuala Lumpur, in particular, offers a level of urban convenience that compares favourably with many much more expensive cities.
There is, however, a legitimate question about whether Malaysia’s expat-friendly reputation is as secure as it once was. The country fell dramatically from fourth overall in 2023 to 22nd in 2024, before rebounding to 10th in 2025 and now ninth in 2026.
Some of the decline coincided with policy changes that have made Malaysia less accommodating to certain categories of foreign residents. The latest Employment Pass rules, introduced on June 1, 2026, substantially raised minimum salary thresholds and introduced structured employment-duration and succession-plan requirements, explicitly with the aim of prioritizing local talent.
The revamped Malaysia My Second Home programme has also introduced considerably more demanding financial and residency requirements than the programme many long-time expats remember.
That does not make Malaysia a poor destination. Far from it. It simply means that the country’s traditional proposition of being an easy, affordable place for almost anyone to establish a life abroad has become somewhat more complicated.
For working expats, the new environment demands closer attention to employment and immigration rules. For retirees and financially independent residents, Malaysia remains an exceptionally compelling proposition. Ninth place may therefore be a useful reminder that the country still has an awful lot going for it – even if some of the policies surrounding foreign residents have become less welcoming.
10. Luxembourg
Luxembourg completes the top 10, and its inclusion demonstrates just how different the priorities of expats can be. It is a small, wealthy European country with an exceptionally strong professional environment, ranking fourth for Working Abroad and first globally for salary and job security.
It also ranks 10th for Quality of Life and ninth for Expat Essentials, with particularly strong administrative and digital services. The major drawback is cost: Luxembourg ranks 29th for Personal Finance, with housing especially difficult for newcomers.
THE BIG PICTUREPerhaps the most interesting feature of the 2026 ranking is not the winner, but the geography. Three of the world’s 10 best-rated destinations for expats are in Southeast Asia. Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia represent three very different models of expat life, yet all benefit from the region’s climate, connectivity, cultural diversity, and relatively strong value compared with many Western destinations (though an argument could easily be made excluding Singapore from this metric).
Malaysia’s ninth-place finish could therefore be regarded as decidedly mediocre only in the context of the company it is keeping. Globally, it remains an excellent result.
And for anyone considering retirement or a move abroad, the ranking is best treated as a starting point rather than a verdict. The best destination depends heavily on whether you want career opportunities, affordable living, retirement, social connections, safety, healthcare, or simply somewhere where the sun comes up every morning in a place that feels good to call home. Malaysia still delivers considerable appeal and value for expats, but it does seem to come with a few more light caveats that weren’t in the conversation a few years ago.
Sources: InterNations Expat Insider 2026, InterNations country and index reports, Malaysia Expatriate Services Division, Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia, Reuters, and other sources cited in the original material.
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