“Hard to find friends among Danes” complain expats – survey
Denmark has never fared particularly well in the Expat Insider survey conducted annually by InterNations, a worldwide community with 4.8 million members and counting – and 2023 is no exception.
Out of the 53 assessed countries, it finished a lowly 41st, trailing Finland (16th) and a resurgent Sweden (24) to finish third in the Nordics ahead of dismal Norway, which ranked second to last.
Only countries with over 50 respondents are included in the annual survey, which this year is topped by Mexico, followed by Spain, Panama, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Bahrain and Portugal.
At the other end, Kuwait ranked bottom, preceding Norway, Türkiye, South Korea, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Malta, New Zealand and Japan.
Hard to make local friends
The survey asks expats a wide range of questions split into five indices: Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Personal Finance, and the ‘Expat Essentials Index’ – aspects such as housing, administration, language and digital life.
And once again, Denmark is let down by its scores for Personal Finance (46th) and Ease of Settling In (51st). Indeed, in the latter it ranked last in the sub-category Finding Friends – a problem often cited by internationals living here.
As many as 66 percent say it is difficult to make local friends (global average: 36 percent).
Furthermore, 38 percent rate their social life negatively (25), 35 percent struggle with getting used to the local culture (18), and 29 percent do not feel at home (20).
Two top tens across five indices
However, while Denmark ranked in the bottom ten for two of the indices, it squeezed into the top ten for Working Abroad (6) and Quality of Life (10).
In the workplace 89 percent are happy with the state of the economy (global average: 62), working hours (80 vs 64), encouragement of creativity (67 vs 51), promotion of independent work (77 vs 46) and support of flexibility (83 vs 60).
Denmark ranked 16th in the Environment & Climate sub-category overall – partly due to high ratings for the availability of green goods and services (1) and the urban environment (3) being countered by a last-placed ranking for the weather.
Finally, it placed 30th in the Expat Essentials Index. A second-placed ranking for Digital Life was let down by poor scores for Housing (45), which expats generally agree is hard to find and too expensive.
In general, 56 percent are unhappy with the cost of living, compared to 35 percent globally.
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