Malta has scored poorly in a survey of living conditions for foreigners, undermined by the state of the environment, even though the people were praised for their friendliness.
The Expat Insider survey for 2022 was conducted by the InterNations global expat network among expatriates living in more than 50 countries.
The categories were: quality of life, ease of setting in, working abroad, personal finance, and expat essentials.
Malta ranked 43rd out of 52 countries, with the worst place for expats to live said to be Kuwait, followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Japan, South Africa, Turkey and Italy. It was the third time in as many years that Malta was among the bottom ten countries. Last year's ranking for Malta was 50th on a list of 59 destinations.
The number one destination to live in as voted by the expats was Mexico, followed by Indonesia, Taiwan, Portugal, Spain, United Arabs Emirates, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and Singapore.
Low ranking for the environment, but high in friendliness
Malta was ranked 50th for the environment and climate, 49th in the ‘Quality of Life’ and 46th for leisure options, travel and transit.
Last year, Malta ranked 56th (out of 59 countries) for the environment, 56th for the quality of transport and 20th for leisure options.
It performed better, ranking 18 for how easy it was for expats to find friends, 21st when it came to how easy it was for expats to settle in and how welcoming the people were, 32nd, for health and well-being and 37th for safety and security.
When it came to ‘personal finance’ Malta placed at 26th place,progress compared to last year when it came 51st.
The expats ranked Malta in 36th for ease to work and 40th for working culture and satisfaction.
Malta was first included on the index back in 2015, when it was ranked the third best place to live in for expats, with respondents citing high job satisfaction and work life balance as contributing factors to their choice, despite many saying they generated a lower income.
Malta slipped down to seventh place in the 2017 edition of the survey.