Every member of the RL Phuket team has their own reasons to love and hate the Land of Smiles, but what about the thousands of other foreign residents of the Kingdom? What do they think? This is exactly the focus of the Expat Insider ranking compiled for 11 years by InterNations.

For the 2024 research, InterNations surveyed over 12,500 expats representing 175 localities. And 53 of those countries and territories made it to the final list.

How high does Thailand rank globally? In a nutshell, very high!

The Land of Smiles ranks 6th overall and 1st for the quality of housing. Here are the top 10 countries for expats as voted by themselves.

Expat Insider 2024 Top 10

Panama
Mexico
Indonesia
Spain
Colombia
Thailand
Brazil
Vietnam
Philippines
UAE

The rating reflects the respondents’ perceptions of various aspects of their life abroad. Thus, it is crucial to emphasize that the InterNations community is mostly English-speaking by language and Western (American, Australian, European) by origin.

These demographics greatly contribute to Thailand’s attractiveness in terms of value for money. Compared to the USA and Western Europe, comfortable life in the Kingdom comes at a relatively low price. Thailand ranks 8th in the Personal Finance Index and 15th in the Expat Essentials Index, which includes housing, Thailand’s field of absolute leadership. Yet this index also includes Admin Topics, 36th in Digital Life, and Language, where expats are not fully satisfied.

In the Quality of Life Index, Thailand ranks only 29th. Global expats praise the Kingdom for its Leisure Options (5th in the world) but complain about Transportation (28th), Safety & Security (43rd), and Environment & Climate (47th). In the Ease of Settling In Index, the country ranks 6th overall as expats appreciate the general friendliness in Thailand, are satisfied with their social life, and feel at home in the Kingdom.

At the same time, making a career in Thailand leaves a lot to be desired. The country ranks 33rd in the Working Abroad Index with low scores in Career Prospects, Salary & Job Security, and Work Culture & Satisfaction.

To sum it up, for an “average InterNations expat,” Thailand is a great place to live but not so great to work in. That said, it’s no surprise that the most popular of the Long-Term Resident Visas is the retirement visa!