The New Year provides many of us with a fresh start, a chance to hit the reset button and set ourselves a new challenge to achieve. For some that might be fulfilling a life-long dream of moving abroad, learning something new, improving your fitness or perhaps even starting a family.
However, who said you must achieve your resolutions in the UK?! What if in 2019 your new year’s resolutions took you further afield to a new destination which would better your chances of success?
Based on data collated by InterNations – the world’s largest expat community – there are some clearly winning countries which would be the perfect base to pursue some of the most common new year’s resolutions.
So, without further ado! Here are some of the top New Year’s resolutions and the perfectly matched countries to achieve them in…
Expand Interests and Leisure Activities
January is the perfect time to consider how you might like to improve your quality of life outside of work. After all, our interests, passions and social activities are an important part of living full and enriched lives.
Taking up a new hobby or learning something new provides the perfect opportunity to grow your network and genuinely enjoy your leisure time. Yet, these tend to decrease in the winter months with fewer options available for social activities.
Therefore, for those of you with this goal for 2019, you may also wish to consider a move to Spain, where the sunny climate allows it’s expats to pursue a variety of leisure activities, with 93% of expats claiming to be happy with their local leisure activities.
Better Health and Wellbeing
With so many pressures in our daily lives, it’s easy to allow bad habits and unhealthy coping strategies to creep in to our daily lives. Eventually these can take their toll on our health and wellbeing and affect our overall quality of life. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that improving health and wellbeing is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions to adopt – from losing weight to ditching cigarettes.
However, if you’re really serious about making 2019 your healthiest year yet, you may want to consider moving to Austria. Why? Well, according to InterNation’s 2018 Expat Insider survey, Austria ranks number one for expat health and wellbeing.
With one of the world’s best healthcare systems, around 87% of expats living in Austria said they were satisfied with the quality of available healthcare which compares to a global average of 67%. Moreover, a staggering 97% of expats were content with the overall quality of their local environment and we all know how important spending time outside is to our overall wellbeing.
Reduce Work Related Stress
With more and more people suffering from work related stress and burnout than ever before, it doesn’t come as a surprise that in the New Year, many pledge to improve their work-life balance and make more effort to switch off from work.
With 83% of expats living in Denmark stating they are happy with their work-life balance and 84% content with their flexible and shorter working hours, might this be the country to set you up for success in this area?
Starting a Family
Couples with a plan of starting a family in 2019 may want to consider Finland as their base. Out of 50 countries, Finland hit the top spot as the best country for expat family life.
Compared to a global average of just 79%, a massive 91% of expats parents living in Finland state they are content with their overall family life.
We all want our children to grow up in a safe and healthy environment and with 96% rate the quality of the education system highly, and 100% positively rating their child’s safety, it would appear Finland’s expats have found the place to raise their families.
Enhanced Financial Situation
Money is at the heart of a lot of our daily decisions and with a New Year ahead, a common resolution is to gain back control of spending, save money and reduce debt, all of which can be a challenge in the UK.
Well, expats living in Colombia have revealed how you might successful achieve this resolution – with a move to a country with such a low costs of living that 64% of expats expressed that their disposable income is more than enough to meet their expenses!
Improving Job Prospects
If securing a new job, moving up the ladder or switching careers makes your New Year’s resolutions list for 2019, be sure not to overlook the opportunities of moving oversees for work.
For the best job prospects, head to Bahrain which ranks number 1 for working abroad, out of 68 counties!
Moreover, 70% of expats working in Bahrain said they were satisfied with their job security and 85% were generally content with their job.
