‘Unfriendly’ Danes battered on expat community network

Denmark among toughest nations in the world to settle in, but hey, at least the weather is crap

Aug 30, 2016

Denmark took a big nosedive in the annual The World Through Expat Eyes survey report (here in English) published yesterday by the global expat community network InterNations.

Denmark was among the nations to fall the furthest in the overall rankings compared to last year, slipping 11 spots from 39th to 50th out of 67 nations. Only the UAE, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland and the US dropped further.

The Danish score was particularly impacted by its negative score in the Ease of Settling index, ranking 65th out of a possible 67 and faring poorly in the subcategories Feeling Welcome (64th out of 67), Friendliness (60), Finding Friends (67) and Language (50).

Its overall score was also encumbered by low scores for Cost of Living (61), Personal Finance (59) and Availability of Housing (66).

In the Family Life index it dropped from 11th last year to 23rd, despite an improvement in the Quality of Education (32) subcategory. Other subcategories included Availability of Childcare and Education (27), Cost of Childcare and Education (11) and Family Well-being (25)

“While in 2015, not one expat parent was not satisfied and just 8 percent said they were less than satisfied with childcare options, in 2016, these numbers have gone up noticeably: 16 percent are not satisfied overall, with 3 percent even stating complete dissatisfaction,” the report found.

Shortest working hours
Fortunately, not everything in the report made dour reading for the Danes. In the Working Abroad index, Denmark scored a commendable 11th placing and garnered high marks for Work-Life Balance (2) and Job Security (13).

“It is perhaps interesting to note the top two countries in the Work-Life Balance subcategory are also two of the countries with the shortest full-time working hours. Denmark has the shortest working hours with 39.0 hours per week, while expats in Norway work on average 41.7 hours per week compared to the global average of 44.6,” the report stated.

Denmark was also ranked 21st in the Quality of Life index, and it received a seventh-place overall for Quality of Environment, although it took a gale-force beating in the Climate and Weather arena, finishing fifth last, only ahead of Ireland, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.