Free Membership
Newsletter
Help
Subscribe
Sign In
Search
February 5, 2023
All times are Vienna time
Search
Subscribe
Sign In
Countries:
Africa »
Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burundi Côte d'Ivoire Ethiopia Ghana Guinea Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Mali Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda South Africa Sudan Tanzania The Congo Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
Asia-Pacific »
Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Cambodia China Hong Kong SAR India Indonesia Japan Laos Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar Nepal New Zealand North Korea (DPRK) Pakistan Philippines Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand Vietnam
Central- & Eastern Europe »
Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Rep. Estonia Georgia Hungary Kosovo Latvia Lithuania North Macedonia Montenegro Poland Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine Western Balkans
Middle East »
Egypt Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestinian Territories Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Turkey United Arab Emirates Yemen
Russia & CIS »
Russia Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Moldova Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
The Americas »
Argentina Bolivia Brazil Canada Central America Chile Colombia Cuba Ecuador Mexico Panama Paraguay Peru The Caribbean Uruguay Venezuela
United States
Western Europe »
Belgium Cyprus Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Monaco Norway Portugal Scotland Spain Sweden Switzerland The Netherlands United Kingdom Vatican City
Business:
Economy
Economic Policies
Investing in Austria
Securities
Earnings
Foreign Trade
Deals
Legal Issues
More Business & Economics+
Politics:
Domestic
Brussels
International
Diplomacy
Companies:
Professional Services »
Banks Financial Services Real Estate Insurance Other Services
Energy »
Oil & Gas Utilities Renewables Mining
Industrials »
Construction Automotive Industrial Goods Basic Resources Chemicals Other Industrials
Transport »
Airlines & Airports Shipping Rail Road
Retail & Consumer
Health Care
Technology
Telecoms
Media
Tourism
Other
Organizations:
Diplomatic Missions
International Organizations
Other
People:
Executives
Politicians
Diplomats
Entrepreneurs
Other
Lifestyle & Travel:
Culture
Travel
Personal Real Estate
Health
Food & Drink
Luxury Goods
More+
More+:
Events
Photo Galleries
Videos
Classifieds
Work & Careers
More+
Home
Countries
Business
Politics
Diplomacy
Companies
Organizations
People
Lifestyle & Travel
More+
Africa
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burundi
Côte d'Ivoire
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guinea
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Mali
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
South Africa
Sudan
Tanzania
The Congo
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Asia-Pacific
Afghanistan
Australia
Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
Hong Kong SAR
India
Indonesia
Japan
Laos
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
New Zealand
North Korea (DPRK)
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Central- & Eastern Europe
Albania
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Rep.
Estonia
Georgia
Hungary
Kosovo
Latvia
Lithuania
North Macedonia
Montenegro
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine
Western Balkans
Middle East
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Palestinian Territories
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Russia & CIS
Russia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Moldova
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
The Americas
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Central America
Chile
Colombia
Cuba
Ecuador
Mexico
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
The Caribbean
Uruguay
Venezuela
United States
Western Europe
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Norway
Portugal
Scotland
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The Netherlands
United Kingdom
Vatican City
Economy
Economic Policies
Investing in Austria
Securities
Earnings
Foreign Trade
Deals
Legal Issues
More Business & Economics+
Domestic
Brussels
International
Professional Services
Banks
Financial Services
Real Estate
Insurance
Other Services
Energy
Oil & Gas
Utilities
Renewables
Mining
Industrials
Construction
Automotive
Industrial Goods
Basic Resources
Chemicals
Other Industrials
Transport
Airlines & Airports
Shipping
Rail
Road
Retail & Consumer
Health Care
Technology
Telecoms
Media
Tourism
Other
Diplomatic Missions
International Organizations
Other
Executives
Politicians
Diplomats
Entrepreneurs
Other
Culture
Travel
Personal Real Estate
Health
Food & Drink
Luxury Goods
More+
Events
Photo Galleries
Videos
Classifieds
Work & Careers
More+
Latest News
Ukrainian War
Covid in Austria
USA in Vienna
UK in Vienna
Russia in Vienna
China in Vienna
Iran in Vienna
UN
OSCE
IAEA
OPEC
Sponsored Content
Tweet
Share

Expats in Austria Satisfied With Quality of Life but Complain About Rude Locals

Lifestyle & Travel › Luxury Goods ♦ Published: July 12, 2022; 15:33 ♦ (Vindobona)
Sponsored Content

According to the newly published "Expat Insider Study 2022", expats living in Austria have mixed feelings about the country. On the one hand, they praise the high quality of life in the country, but on the other hand they find the Austrian population unusually unfriendly. In the end, Austria was only ranked 24th out of a total of 52.

Expats from all over the world participated in the "Expat Insider Survey 2022". / Picture: © Marina Tower Holding GmbH

Expats from all over the world participate annually in the Expat Insider Survey, which attempts to rank the most popular countries for expats through expat experiences. This survey is one of the largest of its kind and attempts to cover all aspects of the experience, allowing expats to share their personal experiences and thoughts about living abroad.

Austria, which is very proud of its quality of life, especially with its capital Vienna (recently named the most liveable city in the world - read this Vindobona article), cannot be missing from such a ranking. Despite high expectations, however, the results for Austria are mixed.

The "Expat Insider Study 2022" gives Austria a top ranking in the quality of life index, but other factors are not as convincing. In particular, factors related to settling in and communicating with locals have a negative impact on its ranking - in short, many expats perceive Austrians as too unfriendly.

Sponsored Content

This leads to the fact that, due to very high results on the one hand, but also very poor results on the other, Austria ends up with the 24th place out of 52 in the final ranking.

What factors do expats particularly like in Austria?

As already briefly mentioned, Austria scores particularly well in terms of quality of life. Responsible for the strong third place behind Spain and Taiwan are above all the results in the three subcategories Travel & Transit (2nd), Health & Wellbeing (3rd) and Environment & Climate (5th).

More than nine out of ten expats in Austria (94%) appreciate their travel opportunities, which are due to good connections and the location in the centre of Europe: "I love Austria's history, architecture and culture, as well as the ease of travel and excellent public transport," says one Australian expat. In fact, 91% are satisfied with the availability of public transport, while 85% agree with its affordability.

Health care in Austria is also positively highlighted, which on the one hand is described as affordable by 83% of expats and on the other hand more than three quarters confirm that they have access to all the health services they need.

The basic prerequisite for a healthy life is a clean environment. Austria can also achieve top scores in this area. Thus, 96% of the expats rate the natural environment as satisfactory and 85% the urban environment.

Which areas in Austria are satisfactory?

The results in the subcategory leisure opportunities (21st) are only slightly above average. For example, only 67% rate the local cultural and nightlife positively, which is in line with the global average. However, almost nine out of ten (88 %) are satisfied with the opportunities for leisure sports, and 47 % are even completely satisfied.

Surprisingly positive is the fact that despite the high quality of life, Austria is comparatively cheap to live in. In the Personal Finance Index, it ranks 16th out of 52.

Austria also scores moderately in the Working Abroad Index with a 19th place. This is due to good job security and the good state of the local economy. However, many expats feel they are not paid adequately for their work.

Sponsored Content

What do expats in Austria not like so much?

The Expat Essentials Index is the first topic where Austria falls below the global average (32nd). The results in three of its subcategories are rather mediocre: housing (25th), administrative issues (27th) and digital life (29th). However, a closer look reveals that Austria scores quite well on some factors and quite poorly on others.

The unrestricted access to online services is highlighted positively and an above-average number of expats consider the available housing to be affordable.

However, the poorly developed possibility to pay without cash and the hurdles foreigners are confronted with when applying for a visa push the result down considerably.

Moreover, Austria is only 38th in the language subcategory. Expats find it neither easy to live here without speaking the national language (39th) nor to learn it (31st). "Speaking fluent German would be a great advantage, but I don't see myself achieving that," says one British expat.

With a shocking 49th place in the "Ease of Settling In Index", Austria is one of the worst rated travel destinations worldwide. It also ranks in the bottom 10 in two subcategories: 51st place for friendliness of locals and 47th place for culture and welcome. Austria does only slightly better in the subcategory "making friends" (41st place).

Expats in Austria find it difficult to make local friends (52% dissatisfied). "It takes so long to make local friends here," notes a respondent from Chile. Another 41% describe the local population as unfriendly towards foreigners, more than twice the global average (18%). In addition, 34% find it difficult to get used to the local culture and 28% do not feel welcome.

InterNations

Copyright © Vindobona. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from Vindobona and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Sponsored Content
Fast News Search
Related News
City of Vienna Organises Online Matura for Displaced Children From Ukraine (July 12, 2022)
Vienna Airport Wins Award as Best Airport in Europe (July 7, 2022)
Vienna Once Again the World's Most Livable City (June 23, 2022)
Read More
Quality of Living Survey, Living in Austria, InterNations, Expats, Expat Insider, Culture, Cost of Living
Featured
See latest Vindobona Newsletter
Sign up now for full site access and to read a limited amount of free premium articles per month:
Sign Up
×
Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content
©1995-2023 Vindobona
Contact
Help
Imprint
Press
Careers
Partners
Terms & Conditions
Site Security
Privacy
Sitemap
Advertise
About Us