No surprise here but Kuwait is still one of the worst countries for expats according to the latest Expat Insider survey by Internations. Kuwait came in 64th place out of a total of 65 countries surveyed. On the bright side, at least we’re not in last place like we were last year.
Kuwait has improved by one place, coming 64th out of 65 countries in 2017. In fact, it’s improved by at least one place in all indices, with particular progress in the Working Abroad Index: job security has improved by 15 places, putting Kuwait in the middle of the ranking (32nd). Quality of life still remains a struggle, however, and Kuwait comes last for leisure options and personal happiness.
Surprisingly, Bahrain was voted as the best place in the world for expats. Check out the full result of the survey and rankings [Here]
Thanks Bashar
49 replies on “Kuwait is Still One of the Worst Countries for Expats”
Flood of GTFO comments coming in 3… 2… 1..
GTFO
I think I’m gonna get more you have no right to say “we” cuz you’re not Kuwaiti comments than GTFO ones lol
I honestly still can’t get over that comment Mark. The amount of hatred and xenophobia was just too much.
Surprise, surprise.
While i can understand how Kuwait isn’t the perfect place for everyone, for me personally, it is heaven.
My country (Lebanon) has given nothing but hell for my family and I. No proper electricity/water, horrible government, potential for death at any second, etc. You live in Lebanon everyday worrying that something might happen to yourself or your family. It is horrible.
In Kuwait, we feel safe. We have electricity, water, food, everything we need to live our lives. Yes it isn’t perfect, but Kuwait has given us what our own country hasn’t. A Life.
It is why i always pray and hope for progress and improvement here. Always wishing the best for the country and its people. I know it will get better.
God bless this country and i hope it just gets better.
Very nice response and a great perspective. A lot of my frustration with Kuwait is that it has such amazing potential but progress is very, very slow.
Yes Exactly!
I know this country can be one of the best in the world. No doubt. Just slow going is all.
I will keep faith that it will get better 🙂
Better shit than shit is still shit.
Sorry for my ignorance, but is Lebanon really that bad? I was thinking of taking a trip to Beirut and seeing the city the next time I’m in Kuwait…
Yes, it is. If you want to visit, sure, go ahead. If you stay in a hotel in Beirut, you aren’t really going to feel much of the electricity cuts or water shortages. If you plan on driving, yeah, good luck with that. It’s a nightmare. It’s WAY worse than Kuwait. Every Lebanese you ask would agree that driving in Kuwait is crazy but Lebanon is way worse. It’s the daily life in Lebanon that’s exhausting and depressing. Visiting is okay if you know what to expect
exactly, lebanon is fun for a weekend but living there is a completely different story. horrible internet speeds, ridiculous traffic and no electricity are my biggest issues with lebanon.
Not only is the internet terrible, but you pay a boatload of money for like 2GB which obviously runs out super quickly. I heard the phone prices got better, but data is still crazy expensive. Between Kuwait and Lebanon, it’s an easy choice for me to say Kuwait.
yes! I mean forget the DSL speed sucks but you’re stuck with like 20GB bandwidth limit for the month. My phone has 50GB limit here and I’m on like the smallest package!
Yeah, if you have a family it is considerably safer. But as a bachelor kuwait is really tough. Plus there’s literally no winter, it’s just dust. People are quite boring and yes as u mentioned progress is uber slow. Sometimes it feels as though the world is moving and we are just staying still here. Also ever since the Safaa movement I’ve been feeling like I don’t want to help this country since they don’t want me here, I’d rather pay my countries taxes, wear nice winter jackets, breathe clean air, feel like I’m a part of society and not a money mooching pest because that’s how people make me feel here (maybe it’s just me but I do feel it) so thank god I canceled my residency and I’m leaving! Yaaaassss! Back to Lebanon baby! Back HOME!
How is the weather any country’s fault?
I’m surprised it improved a spot. I’ve seen very little done in the past year to improve anything. The reality is nothing in Kuwait will be done to improve things for expats as long as the expats keep coming. We are all expendable and replaceable in the mind of the government.
I don’t think Kuwait understands the impact that expat quality of life has on their country. It is already difficult to attract skilled people to Kuwait. We are getting the 2nd or 3rd tier employees here. Those highly skilled people with a lot of options go work elsewhere and Kuwait falls further and further behind. The only GCC country where Kuwait can successfully recruit employees from is Saudi and even that is difficult.
It’s a survey based ranking so all results are relative. A country can theoretically not improve at all but still rise or fall in the ranking.
These surveys are dime a dozen. How many expats live in Costa Rica?! And for a lot of them drinking must have been high on the agenda. Having lived in the UAE for over 20 years, I can say by certainty that the cost of living in Kuwait is way below UAE. Of course there is a lot of room for improvement: better airport & roads, tougher implementation of driving & environmental laws, etc. but Kuwait deserves to be a lot higher than that.
Where would you rank Kuwait? Some countries suprise me (Khazahkstan, Kenya) but that may simply based on my ignorance of the country.
I can understand why Kuwait is not a preferred destination but if you come here with a good job and a good sponsor it isn’t really a hardship posting either
Keywords here are good job and good sponsor. What percentage of expats in Kuwait have both?
My guess is less than 5%
What is considered a good job and a good sponsor and a decent package?
Kuwait is always going to be a special place for me after living here for 20+ years. What frustrates me though is that there is potential but … (I do not want to get into politics). My brother has it right, just let Kuwait be as is until it is the right time to see her change or our time to move onto a different part of this world.
How many people do you know in Kuwait who took part in such surveys? I bet none. I think their data is flawed & largely made up or gues work based on news articles. If Romania (19) is so much better than UK (54)then how come UK is full of Romanian immigrants & refugees?!
I believe it is based on survey’s but I can’t imagine the majority of Kuwait based expats took the survey. I participated one year when I received the link from Internations but haven’t completed the survey in the past 2 or 3 years.
Majority? Dude I highly doubt 1% of the expat population took part in this survey yet alone majority.
Kuwait may not be the best or perfect place to for expats to live in, but this survey is definitely total bullshit. The fact that Bahrain figures on the absolute top, and Kuwait figures near the bottom, shows how much of farce this survey is. There is hardly any difference in living conditions in the two countries.
Also how can Bahrain be the top country, ahead of all the other expat havens like the US and countries in Western Europe?
Uhm, sorry but US/Europe?
The economic instability, immigration bans and filtering + racism is hardly expat heaven.
He said HAVEN
First of all, I said ‘Haven’ not ‘Heaven’
Secondly, if you look at the parameters, financial/ economic considerations are only one of the several other factors, all of which are better in US and western europe. Thirdly, we are talking about expats here, not really refugees and asylum seekers, that are the ones typically unwelcome in these countries.
Anyhow, my point is that there is simply NO WAY Bahrain can logically be on top of the list considering the parameters used for deriving this ranking
What would be different between Bahrain and Kuwait? I’ve never visited Bahrain but I’m shocked to see it that high on the list. I thought it was just a place people visited for alcohol and girls.
It’s pretty chill and the locals are super nice. I go to Bahrain mostly because of their race track but I don’t think I’d want to live there.
Then can Internations explain how come expats considered to be 70% of the population?
A lot of expats are here because they have to be here not because they want to.
Have to = they’ve got a job, make good money here
So 3,117,211 expat (PACI source) are willing to stay in the worst place on earth (Other than Greece) just because they couldn’t find any better job in the whole earth?
3,000,000 out of 7.5 is nothing it’s a tiny minorty
I am reminded everyday that I am an expat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNd8iNx1gGk
I Always had a thing for Latin America, I bet you can find easier residency permits in Costa Rica 🙂
There’s a reason why Kuwait is roughly 70% foreign. Foreigners dig it here!
So 3,117,211 expat (PACI source) are willing to stay in the worst place on earth (Other than Greece) just because they couldn’t find any better job in the whole earth?
I wrote a ton and just deleted it all in frustration. This topic is not worth discussing.
Kuwait has its flaws like any other country. It is suffering from many things some of which are derivative of the generous social benefits and then of course the 1990 war and instability in the region.
But at the end of it all today we are driving in cars we would not be able to afford outside this country, living in decent houses, have 100% electricity and air-conditioning following us everywhere. Ignore the anti-expat sentiment, make your bucks and get out when they decide you are not wanted.
This is not Kuwait 1989, If you did not or do not have a plan B shame on us. Moving on…
yes…BUT!
wasting resources is hardly something to be proud of. yes, everyone can drive luxury cars and get subsidised petrol. but all i see is money that could have been spent on developing kuwait.
i’m an expat, but even i know that developing kuwait helps everyone, locals and foreigners. it helps locals more than it helps expats, and YET still no one is interested.
You can’t develop a country when it’s habitant only care for the money they can pocket themselves. From corruption, early retirement and other social benefit’s, were I come from it is a shame to live of government benefit, here it is a hobby on how much they can get.
As if the saying… “It;s not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country” don’t apply for Kuwaities.. I believe the country has spoiled them, and this is the aftermath of that spoil.
In regards to to us Expat, it’s very simple. If we don’t like it here, we should simply leave. The right is not for us to ask.
live where you like .. have your opinion. want a better place try and make it one.. dont wait for others to improve.
all expact should leave
I swear I know expats who are more loyal to this country than citizens. And I’m a citizen so STFU.
All the more reason for expats to be here. Its ‘expat’ not ‘expact’ !!
Sure bro… Let us know when citizens are ready to start cleaning bathrooms in Avenues (or at least in their homes), work on constructions, work as waiters, baristas, car mechanics and we will leave immediately. Low level jobs are main reason of 70% expats, so locals should be ready to take over this jobs if they want to reduce expats in Kuwait. Expats on high level positions with competitive salaries to Kuwaitis are less than 2%, so people you want to send back to their countries are just poor expats who makes your life comfortable.
Kuwait is more depended on expats than expats on Kuwait, get over with it. It’s win-win for both Kuwaitis and expats, you get comfort and luxury and expats get good salary compared to their countries.
This country needs a revolution, not of people but of minds. They should throw away these lawmakers who are just keen on blaming the expats on all issues that came up due to the price of oil. they cant think of any alternative or crack their brains to have new ideas of revenue, so the easiest thing to do is blame and shame the expats. we all know that this country would have never been here without expats. and who are the expats , just people who came 100 years after the citizens. all came looking for better prospective. i was raised in kuwait and this place is my home. but who would care to understand it. The youth of this country is to be blamed. they are very ignorant and dont care about the fate of this country. they very well know that there is plundering and looting happening , but dont care or bother to raise their voices or do anything as long as they are rich and do whatever they want inside or outside kuwait. their ignorance is creating a big tunnel for others to de shape this country.