DOHA: Qatar’s expats has topped in the Middle East in HSBC survey in personal economics, reporting the highest levels of disposable income (73 percent). The region overall remains an excellent destination for expats to improve their earnings, increase their savings and enjoy a greater disposable income, revealed HSBC expat survey ‘Expat Explorer’ yesterday.
The survey, now in its ninth year, said living and working abroad can help expats progress faster towards achieving some of their important financial goals. These goals include buying a property, saving for children’s education and putting money aside for retirement.
In Qatar, 69 percent respondent said they can earn more than at home and 79 percent say that they can save more than in their home country. 59 percent have the ability to save towards their retirement and 61 percent of expats in Qatar say that living abroad has sped up their plans to buy a property, according to the survey.
Expat Explorer is the largest and one of the longest running surveys of expats, with 26,871 respondents sharing their views on life abroad including careers, financial well-being, quality of life and ease of settling for children.
Quality of the working life in the Middle East has also improved with 36 percent saying that job security is better than in their home countries, showing an increase from 30 percent last year. Work-life-balance also seems to be better in the Middle East with an increase from 43 percent to 53 percent over the past year supporting the statement.
“Expats consistently tell us that moving abroad has helped them achieve their ambitions and long-term financial goals, from getting access to better education for their children to buying property or saving more for retirement. Most expats also find that their quality of life has improved since making the move — and that they are integrating well with the local people and culture,” said Dean Blackburn, Head of HSBC Expat.
As per the survey, nearly a quarter (22 percent) of expats aged 18-34 moved abroad to find more purpose in their career. This compares to 14 percent of those aged 34-54 and only 7 percent of those aged 55 and over. Millennials are also the most likely to embrace expat life in search of a new challenge: more than two in five (43 percent) say this, compared with 38 percent of those aged 34-54 and only 30 percent of those aged 55 and over. Millennials are finding the purpose they seek, with almost half (49 percent) reporting that they are more fulfilled at work than they were in their home country.
Far from slowing progress towards their longer term financial goals, expats find many are fast tracked by life abroad. Around two in five expats say that moving abroad has accelerated their progress towards saving for retirement (40 percent) or towards buying a property (41 percent), compared to around one in five (20 percent and 19 percent respectively) whose move abroad has slowed their progress towards these financial goals.
Almost a third (29 percent) of expats say living abroad has helped them to save towards their children’s education more quickly, compared to only 15 percent who say it has slowed them down.
