Yzabelle Bostyn
A NEW poll surveying 12,000 expats from all over the world has crowned an Andalucian city as the best place in the world to live and work.
Forbes, together with InterNations, a global network for expats, surveyed 177 nationalities living in 181 countries.
The survey looked at factors like quality of life, value for money and ease of settling to find the top expat destination.
Three Spanish cities appeared in the list but Malaga, Andalucia, won the top spot.
Those surveyed highlighted safety, cheap public transport, opportunities to play sports and good social life.
The city also reigned supreme in terms of friendliness, climate and work life balance.
However, Malaga fell to 41st spot in terms of job opportunities.
Just behind the Costa del Sol city were Alicante and Valencia, who took the second and third spots.
Spain’s capital Madrid also ranked highly with the sixth spot on the podium due to its wealth of job opportunities and quality of life.
Another major Spanish city, Barcelona, ranked 13th in the poll.
Last year, the USA ranked highly with Miami and New York in the top spots.
However, the cost of living crisis, lack of job opportunities and a poor work life balance has seen New York fall to 39th position and Miami disappear from the poll altogether.
The full top twenty is as follows:
Málaga, Alicante, Valencia, Ras Al Jaima, Abu Dhabi, Madrid, Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Mascate, Omán, Dubai, Lisbon, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Nairobi, Zúrich, Athens, Stockholm, Luxemburg and The Hague.
