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LIFE IN SPAIN

Spain ranked second best country for foreigners to live in 2023

Spain has emerged as the second favourite country for foreigners to live in, beating 51 other countries in the latest Internations Expat Insider survey. 

Published: 11 July 2023 17:16 CEST
spain best country for foreigners
A square in Hondarribia in the Basque Country. Spain is the second favourite country for foreigners to move to according to a new survey by Internations. Photo: Guerrero de la Luz/Pexels

Spain has long been a country that foreigners want to move to, with good weather, culture, food and quality of life being some of the main draws.

Its reputation as one of the world’s favourite destinations to live in has now been further consolidated after it came in second place in the latest Internations Expat Insider 2023 survey. 

The only country that came out ahead of Spain was Mexico. The others in the top five were Panama, Malaysia and Taiwan. The only other European country that made the top 10 places was Portugal in 10th place.

The worst five destinations for foreigners according to Internations respondents were Kuwait, Norway, Turkey, South Korea, and Germany.

With more than 12,000 respondents, it’s one of the most extensive surveys on living and working abroad and offers insights into life in 53 destinations worldwide.

Respondents’ provided detailed information on satisfaction with their respective countries in categories including – quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, personal finance, administration and language.

Spain in first place for quality of life 

Spain took the top spot 1st when it came to quality of life, with foreign residents particularly happy with their health and well-being (4th place) and leisure options (1st place).

Spain offers plenty of world-class beaches, historic cities, opportunities for sports and a wide variety of natural areas for an outdoor lifestyle.

Residents in Spain are satisfied with their social lives, coming in 10th place, finding it fairly easy to fit in with the local culture (2nd place).

Since the first Expat Insider survey in 2014, Spain has always ranked in the top 10 for quality of life and consistently featured among the best worldwide for its leisure options.

In fact, 88 percent of foreigners living in Spain are content with the culture and nightlife in España, compared to 68 percent globally.

Nine out of ten respondents said they’re pleased with the opportunities for recreational sports compared to 75 percent globally.

Thankfully, Spain’s great climate and sunny weather, the third best according to the survey, makes it easy for foreigners to enjoy these activities on a regular basis.

Spanish healthcare is highly valued

The quality of healthcare in Spain also ranked highly among foreign residents. They are satisfied with both the availability (84 percent happy vs. 71 percent globally) and the affordability (82 percent happy vs. 62 percent globally) of healthcare.

Spain’s quality of medical care came in 10th place globally. Quality public healthcare is free for those paying into the social security system and private healthcare insurance costs far less than in other countries such as the US.

READ ALSO: How does Spain’s healthcare system compare with the US?

Spain ranked highly for culture and social life. Photo: JORGE GUERRERO / AFP

Culture, social life and feeling at home

Overall, Spain came in 6th place in the culture and welcome category, with four in five people surveyed saying they feel at home here, 18 percentage points more than the global average (62 percent).

They also consider it easy to get used to the local culture (78 percent are happy vs. 62 percent globally).

When it comes to social life and making friends, almost seven in ten say they have found a personal support network in Spain (vs. 58 percent globally), and 72 percent are satisfied with their social life there (vs. 56 percent globally).

Poor career opportunities 

Although Spain came out ahead overall, there were several categories where Spain didn’t perform well at all. Unsurprisingly, most of these had to do with working life. Spain performed worst in the working abroad category, coming in 34th place.

Less than half of respondents said that moving to Spain has improved their career prospects (vs. 59 percent globally), and 36 percent are unhappy with the local job market (vs. 26 percent globally). Job security came in 43rd place and the state of the local economy also ranked poorly, in 39th place overall.  

Foreigners in Spain often agree that you don’t move to Spain for career growth. Jobs are not easy to get, and moving up the career ladder is hard. In fact, it’s consistently ranked as one of the worst places to start a business and salaries and low compared to many other Western European countries.

Stats relating to the average foreigner who moves to Spain. Source: Internations

Spain’s frustrating bureaucracy

Spain also ranks below the worldwide average in the admin category, in 33rd place. Nearly half the respondents (47 percent) have difficulties dealing with the notoriously difficult bureaucracy, which takes up a lot of time and causes plenty of frustrations and delays. 

READ ALSO: How to get a ‘cita previa’ (appointment) in Spain when it seems impossible

On the positive side, the country ranks 10th in the work and leisure subcategory. This is mainly due to the fact that many are satisfied with their work-life balance (73 percent happy vs. 63 percent globally).

Cost of living and language

Despite the poor work opportunities, finances don’t appear to cause issues many for foreigners in Spain – more than two in three are happy with the general cost of living, compared to only 44 percent globally.

When it comes to the language 36 said they find it challenging to live in Spain without local language skills (vs. 32 percent globally), but luckily 62 percent say the local language(s) are easy to learn.

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EXPLAINED: How Spain’s new Social Security app works

Whether you're self-employed, an artist, a student or a domestic worker, Spain's new social security app aims to simplify and streamline bureaucratic processes you might need to do when it comes to managing your working life and pension.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:04 CEST
EXPLAINED: How Spain's new Social Security app works

Spain’s Social Security Ministry has launched a new free mobile app aimed at simplifying and synchronising tax, pension and working life procedures, allowing you to better access records and update information.

The app is specifically aimed at easing the bureaucratic burden on the self-employed, domestic workers, artists and young people studying or doing work experience.

Spain’s Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, presented the app this week, stating that it represents “a great step forward for citizens to have a closer and more fluid relationship with Social Security.

Through this application, personal data can be updated and verified; detailed information on contribution bases can be accessed and your Work Life report can be easily downloaded, among many other services.”

In Spain, your ‘Working Life report’ is known as el informe de vida laboral. According to the Social Security website, it is “a document that contains information on all the periods contributed by the worker to the Spanish Social Security system.” In other words, all the information on your entire employment history in Spain.

READ ALSO: How to check how long you have left to get a pension in Spain

The app essentially moves over the various processes usually done on the Social Security portal or in Spain’s social security offices so users can receive a more personalised service including tailored alerts and the ability to download documents to their mobile phones in offline mode.

It also allows users to easily check the details of their working life including for who and for how long they’ve worked somewhere, the type of contract they have, the working day or the relevant collective bargaining agreement, as well as information on contribution bases and how much they are owed in the event of sick leave and for calculating your pension.

How do I access and use the app?

First you’ll need to download the app from the Google Play or Apple App store. Once you’ve downloaded it to your phone, there are three ways to log-in in and register:

  • Permanent Cl@ve
  • Digital certificate (Android only)
  • SMS

READ ALSO:

Once registered and logged in, push notifications can be turned on as well as a biometric access — either fingerprint or facial recognition.

Once this has been done, you can access your personal information, whether it be working or pension matters, and all the normal procedures you’d previously do via the portal can be carried out and all this information can be downloaded in files.

What can you do with the app?

As mentioned earlier, the new app basically aims to streamline the processes you’d normally do via the Social Security Ministry portal or in person.

This includes checking your social security number or requesting one, consulting your tax contribution bases and employment history, updating your personal details, or managing tasks for the self-employed, domestic workers artists or young people doing work experience, such as registering or deregistering as economically active and downloading supporting documents.

READ ALSO: How to de-register as self-employed in Spain

Focus on young people, freelancers, artists and domestic employment

The application offers four different profiles to use the app: self-employed, domestic employment (for both employees and employers), artists and trainees.

The autónomo profile allows you to access all the information and procedures available if you are registered or are about to start self-employment, including registration and de-registration, modifying your contribution base, consulting tax receipts, and estimating your contributions according to your income, among other things.

In the domestic employment section, whether you yourself work domestically or are going to hire someone to work at home, you can consult all the necessary information such as calculating the contributions to be paid, registering and de-registering, updating the salary information and the working hours of the employee, or consulting payslips issued.

READ ALSO: The rules for hiring a domestic worker in Spain

For artists, you can manage your inactivity, request a refund of income from contribution bases or deregister from the working artists’ register.

For students doing internships or work experience (alumnos en prácticas in Spanish) the app is useful for both those about to start their internships and for those who’ve already started them, with access to their personal profile, a guide to resolve doubts, information to find out about the benefits of pensions contributions and they can carry out procedures such as requesting the social security number, downloading the Work Life Report and consulting contribution bases.

READ ALSO: How self-employed workers in Spain can get a better pension

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