How Easy is it to Make Friends Abroad?

A survey reveals that it depends on where in the world you live as to whether you will make friends or even find love as an expat

One concern that many would-be expatriates face is the prospect of making friends abroad.  For those thinking about retiring overseas this can be a very predominant worry for example, and for accompanying spouses it is a subject that raises anxiety.  After all, moving from a home where you have a support network of friends and family to an unknown environment where you will be effectively alone is very daunting.

So how easy is it to make friends abroad?  An independent survey conducted by a leading bank has revealed that it is actually surprisingly easy for expats to make good and lasting friendships – depending on where in the world they relocate to!  Therefore, if you’re thinking about moving abroad and you haven’t yet decided where to set up home, the following survey results could prove very influential for you.

Alternatively, if you know where you’re off to you can learn from the experiences of others who have expatriated before you and faced the prospect of making new friends from scratch too…and you may be surprised to learn that one of the most welcoming places in the world is Germany!

Expatriates who move to live in Germany report that the Germans are welcoming and accommodating with 92% of those surveyed by HSBC International reporting that they had made friends with local people.  However, for those who think German would be a language barrier to them making lasting friends with local people, 95% of survey respondents said that Canada was an even more welcoming nation where making lasting friendships with local citizens was easy.

We recently ran a feature about how Canada is a more affordable destination for expatriating Britons too, so if you want friends and you want a realistic cost of living and you have a choice about where in the world you live, perhaps this stunning and vast nation should be on your radar!  Alternatively Australia is the third nation in the list in terms of its friendliness, its welcoming citizens and the number of expats who said that they found it a good nation in terms of ease of making lasting friendships, with 91% favouring Australia.

At the bottom end of the scale you have the United Arab Emirates and places like Dubai where the overwhelming majority of expatriates said it was nigh on impossible to make true friends with local people – although those surveyed did have a very good expat support network.

Going back to Germany once again, it was the top nation for expats when it comes to a) learning the language and b) integrating to the point at which you join in with local social groups and activities too.  And for anyone looking to move abroad and perhaps find love, it was the top country in the survey in terms of the countries expats had moved to and found a local partner.

These findings dispel the myth that you need to move abroad to a country with a high percentage of English speaking people if you want to make friends and be influenced by people to the point at which you marry them!  And it seems you needn’t travel to the other side of the world to find friends or even love – you can just pop across to mainland Europe and settle down in Germany.