Bahrain has been ranked the second best country in the world for expatriates to make friends, according to a new survey.

InterNations, the world’s largest expat community, collected data from 18,000 expatriates representing 178 nationalities in 68 countries for its Expat Insider survey.

Mexico was ranked first, followed by Bahrain and Serbia in third spot.

Responses from expats in Bahrain found that 77 per cent thought it was easy to make new friends here, while 68pc said it was easy to make friends with Bahrainis.

Furthermore, 88pc of expats questioned stated they were happy with their life in Bahrain.

“Bahrain rose from sixth to second place out of 68 countries in relation to finding friends abroad within one year,” stated the report.

“Now, 77pc of expats find it easy to make new friends and 68pc say that making local friends is no problem either.

“This might be due to the general friendliness of the local population, as 92pc of expats rate this factor positively.”

In addition, 60pc of expats surveyed said that the locals in Bahrain were extremely friendly – double the global average of 30pc.

More than one third (34pc) found it hard to learn the local language, but 94pc agreed that it was easy to live in Bahrain without speaking Arabic.

“There is no need for the local language,” says an Indian expat quoted in the report.

The report was compiled based on six categories: quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, family life, personal finance and cost of living.

Expats found it hardest to make friends in Kuwait, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Norway, Finland, Austria and Estonia.

The top three most difficult places for expats to make friends were Kuwait (68th), Sweden (67th) and Denmark (66th).

“Finding friends is often a major challenge for people moving abroad,” says the report.

“Only 57pc of expats worldwide find it easy to make new friends abroad – and an even lower share of 45pc say that making friends with the locals in their new country of residence is easy.

InterNations last month ranked Bahrain as the second best country for women to work abroad with 88pc of respondents stating they were generally happy with their jobs.

Manama was also ranked by expats among the top 10 cities in the world for expats to live and work in another survey released in November by the German-based company.

sandy@gdn.com.bh

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