Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s transformational journey has placed it as the second-best country in the world for expats, outperforming the US, the UK, and Belgium, a new survey reveals.
In the latest edition of the Expat Insider survey, the Kingdom came second to Denmark on the Working Abroad Index, with more than half of respondents in the country rating the local job market positively.
This demonstrates Saudi Arabia’s continuous growth as it jumped from ranking in the 14th position in 2023.
The index ranks countries based on four subcategories, including career prospects, salary and job security, work and leisure, and work culture and satisfaction.
Factors include local job market, career opportunities, economic conditions and job security as well as pay fairness, working hours, work-life balance, and business culture.
The Kingdom was ranked first in terms of career prospects, outperforming the US and UAE.
The survey revealed that 75 percent of expats in Saudi Arabia are much more likely to agree that the move improved their career prospects, and 62 percent rate their personal career opportunities favorably.
Furthermore, the survey showed that 82 percent are very much satisfied with the state of the local economy as the nation ranks second in the salary and job security subcategory.
However, expats face long workdays with an average of 47.8 hours a week for full-time positions as opposed to 42.5 hours globally.
This is also reflected in the ranking as the Kingdom receives its worst results in the index when it comes to expats’ working hours at 23rd place and work–life balance in 27th.
“I like how there are work opportunities for highly skilled professionals,” one Spanish expat in Saudi Arabia said, the survey revealed.
Moreover, the Kingdom was also in the top 10 countries in the Expat Essentials Index by Expat Insider.
The Expat Essentials Index evaluates the ease of obtaining visas, dealing with local bureaucracy, and opening bank accounts as well as housing affordability and availability, digital life, including online services and internet access, and language ease, covering learning and living without the local language.
Saudi Arabia was ranked 6th worldwide, surpassing nations like Singapore, Mexico, Indonesia, and Kenya.
The indexes were conducted by the global expat community InterNations.