Finland is the Best Place in the World for Expat Children
For expat parents, one of the biggest concerns is ensuring that their children are safe, well-educated and enjoy a good quality of life. Whether moving through choice or due to a work placement, expat parents tend make choices based upon their children’s welfare by exploring schools, leisure activities, and family-friendly residential areas.
InterNations 2016 Expat Insider survey has revealed some changes in the Family Life Index, which focuses upon childcare, education, and family-welling being. Expats living across 45 countries were surveyed and the responses in the Family Life Index go a long way into pointing out the prime locations for potential expat parents.
Flying high in the latest survey was Finland, taking the top spot in three of the four subcategories (availability of childcare and education, cost of childcare and education, and quality of education). This boosted Finland to position one in the Family Life Index, with not one single parent claiming Finland’s child safety, education, health, leisure, and general wellbeing to be anything but positive.
Finland’s expat children scored above average in the PISA tests; The Programme for International Student Assessment. For this reason, it is no surprise that 70% of respondees claim the quality of education to be excellent, compared to a global average of just 21%.
Second place in the Family Life Index went to the Czech Republic who previously ranked 14th in the 2015 survey. Their third-place result in availability of childcare and education and cost of childcare and education helped boost them into the fantastic position. They also performed well in the family well-being subcategory, securing 6th position.
Around three quarters of respondees championed the affordability of availability of childcare and education available to expat families in the Czech Republic. 91% of expat parents who responded in the country said they were satisfied overall with their child’s well-being on all levels, from health to education.
Although Israel may not be considered a popular expat destination it performed extremely well in the Family Life Index, coming 3rd. The country performed well in both the family well-being and availability of childcare and education subcategories (securing 5th position in both), as well as a 6th place for quality of education.
Making up the remaining top 10 best countries for family life were Austria, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Taiwan, Belgium, and Germany.
Countries who performed the worst in the Family Life Index include Turkey, Qatar, Greece, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.
