Luxembourg scores tops for quality of life but sucks for cost of living

Luxembourg has long been a favourite expatriate haunt for its security, safety and job security.

The small country of Luxembourg has a relatively large concentration of expatriate professionals, but what’s made it so special? Answers came via a recent survey of top expat destinations, in which it took 15th place overall. The Expat Insider survey took into account some 18,000 expatriates living and working in 187 worldwide locations, making Luxembourg’s overall ranking total impressive, to say the least. Better still, in the Quality of Life sub-category, the tiny state ranked 17th for its leisure facilities, personal happiness of respondents, transport, digital life and health and well-being. Mot impressive of all was its number one score as a safe, secure place to live and work.

However, not all Luxembourg's aspects won praise and top rankings as, in the Ease of Settling In sub-category, it only managed a 40th ranking due to difficulties experienced by newly-arrived expats in banking, the healthcare system and the registration process. The ‘Finding Friends’ category also produced a disappointing result, scoring just 52 points, but the Working Overseas sector raised a score of ninth overall. Results in the Family Life sector were also positive at 16th, split into subsections of Childcare and Education at 17th, their costs at 12th, the quality of education at 22nd and Family Wellbeing at 15th.

The important aspects of children’s safety, their general well-being and the Family Life in General sub-sector ranked seventh, sixth and 10th respectively, proving that expat families would be safe, happy and well-looked after should the head of the household be relocated to Luxembourg. However, expat professionals who’ve been headhunted will have to hold out for an exceptional salary and package, as the little country was ranked second worst in the world for its soaring cost of living.