Kuwait hits rock bottom for expats in latest survey

Endless expat surveys may confuse rather than enlighten, but the latest Expat Insider results for Kuwait may well tell it like it is.

According to expat respondents living and working in the emirate, it’s the worst in the world for almost everything except a fairly decent salary. It’s a damning result for the formerly popular expat professional destination, but from 2014 onwards criticism during the same survey saw it at or very close to the worst rankings out of at least 68 world countries. 2018's Expat Insider Survey found Kuwait again stuck at the lowest, 68th, ranking, a condemnation of just about every aspect of its life for resident expatriates. Of all the indices, two of the most important for expats with families were Finding Friends and Overall Friendliness.

Kuwait hit rock bottom in both categories, a disturbing result in particular for expats who’d relocated with their families. In the Working Abroad and Family Life sectors, the country ranked within the bottom five, and even the Personal Finance category rated it 50th out of the 68 countries surveyed. All the Gulf States scored low in this category, with the UAE faring worst due to many of its expatriate professionals reporting they were struggling to make ends meet. There’s still a large gap between the best and worst performing countries in this all-important sector. Another cause for expatriate dissatisfaction across the Gulf States as a whole was their working lives, Results for the UAE, Qatar and Oman were below par, with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sinking further to 64th and 66th place. A high number are now dissatisfied with their employment and considering leaving.

The survey’s new sub-category Digital Life also saw Kuwait performing poorly as regards the online sites for its government and administrative services, whilst the UAE and Qatar are the most digitally connected in the region. For many expats the Safety and Security category is important, along with political stability. It’s the Gulf States’ strongest sub-category, with Oman and the UAE ranking in the top ten. Oman also won out on peacefulness, with 94 percent of respondents attesting to its lack of violent crimes, noisy protests and ant-social behaviour. As a result, 97 per cent of its expatriates feel perfectly safe.