Thailand has moved into the top 10 among the best countries for expatriates, rising to 8th place from 14th last year in a survey.

The Expat Insider 2022 survey by InterNations surveyed expat life in 52 destinations, obtaining online responses from nearly 12,000 members worldwide.

The survey measures expats' satisfaction with the Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, and Personal Finance in their respective country of residence. A new Expat Essentials Index covers digital life, administrative issues, housing and language.

Thailand excels in the Personal Finance index (4th) and Ease of Settling In (11th). It ranked 18th for Expat Essentials but a mediocre 35th for Quality of Life. The country's poor Working Abroad ranking (45th) dragged down its overall score. Overall, however, 77% of expats say they are happy with their life in Thailand, compared with 71% globally.

The country's ranking improved from 14th in 2021 and 25th out of 64 destinations in 2019. In 2020, when InterNations ranked cities, Bangkok was ranked 20th out of 82 locations.

Mexico (1st), Indonesia (2nd) and Taiwan (3rd) were the top three destinations worldwide. The remainder of the top 10, in order, were Portugal, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

The bottom three destinations -- Kuwait (52nd), New Zealand and Hong Kong -- all perform poorly in terms of personal finances for expats.

Respondents were unhappy with the low availability of administrative/government services online (43% unhappy vs 21% globally). "It is all paperwork for everything," comments one expat from Chile.

While 70% find it easy to live in Thailand without speaking the local language (vs 51% globally), 68% struggle to learn it (vs 38% globally). In fact, 78% speak the language just a little (54% vs 25% globally) or not at all (24% vs 10% globally).

Thailand's main weakness is in the Working Abroad index (45th), with a ranking of 48th in the Work Culture and Satisfaction subcategory (48th). The local business culture, they say, does not encourage creativity (41% vs 26% globally), nor does it promote independent work (45% vs 28% globally).