Expats Deem Life in Brazil Unsafe; Quality of Life Low Despite Locals´ Friendliness

RIO DE JANEIRO, BAZIL – Brazil comes 61st out of 64 destinations in the Expat Insider 2019 survey, ranking among the ten worst destinations in the world for the fifth year in a row.

Expats are particularly worried about safety and security (64th out of 64), but also unhappy with family life abroad (35th out of 36).

Brazil offers poor results across the board, ranking in the bottom 10 for three out of the five indices, and safety and security remains a huge problem for expats.

Friendly locals are not enough to boost Brazil past the halfway mark: it ranks 37th out of 64 countries for ease of settling in.

Brazil offers little in the way of good family life. Expensive healthcare and poor safety provisions leave the quality of life lacking. A substandard economy can leave expats struggling to afford the cost of living. 19 percent are unhappier after moving abroad (vs. 16 percent globally).

Language Holds the Key to Finding Friends

The majority (56 percent) agrees that making new friends in Brazil is easy — but this is only two percentage points above the global average (54 percent).

Nevertheless, over three-quarters of expats (77 percent) agree that locals in Brazil have a friendly attitude towards foreign residents (vs. 65 percent globally), while just over eight in ten (83 percent) are happy with the general friendliness of the population (vs. 68 percent globally). Over two in five (41 percent) even give the best possible rating here.

Without knowing the language, you cannot connect with people as much. Looking at the results surrounding language, knowing the local language seems to be the key to making friends in Brazil.

Not counting native speakers, over nine in ten expats (94 percent) say they can speak the local language at least a little (vs. 75 percent globally), and 45 percent even say they speak it very well (vs. 28 percent).

Additionally, 56 percent of respondents agree that making local friends is easy (vs. 42 percent globally), with 49 percent stating that their friends and acquaintances are mostly made up of local residents (vs. 19 percent globally).

Families Shaken by Poor Safety

Life in Brazil does not seem to offer up much for expat families. The country disappoints expat parents when it comes to the availability and cost of childcare and education, ranking 33rd out of 36 countries in both subcategories: just 26 percent of expats raising children agree that childcare in Brazil is easy to afford (vs. 43 percent globally), while merely 19 percent are satisfied with the affordability of education (vs. 46 percent globally).

Expat parents also do not seem to be getting what they pay for, as just over two in five (43 percent) are happy with the quality of education in Brazil (vs. 69 percent globally).

Despite ranking last for family well-being in general, expat parents in Brazil do appreciate the friendly attitude towards families with children: 85 percent of expats raising children are satisfied with this factor (vs. 81 percent globally).

However, less than two-thirds of expat parents (64 percent) are happy with family life in general; noticeably below the global average of 79 percent. Brazil also lands in second-to-last place for children’s safety, with just 35 percent satisfied, a huge 46 percentage points less than the global average of 81 percent.

Poor Prospects Just Not Enough

Brazil fails to impress in the Working Abroad Index, ranking just 58th out of 64 countries. Despite a 15-place increase, Brazil still only comes 46th for job security (vs. 61st out of 68 in 2018): just 55 percent rate this factor positively, compared to nearly three in five globally (59 percent).

Expats seem to be even less happy with the state of the economy: just 16 percent are satisfied, which is a huge contrast to the global average of 63 percent. Since the recession in 2015, Brazil’s economy has been recovering at a very slow pace of roughly 1.1 percent a year, and economists don’t see it improving any time soon.

The unemployment rate in Brazil has nearly doubled since 2012, while the official unemployment survey shows that 28.3 million people are being underutilized — either not working or working less than they could be.

Climbing Costs Disappoint Expats

Expats seem to struggle with their personal finances in Brazil, with the country ranking 50th in the respective index. In part, this could be due to the high costs of living: 43 percent of respondents express being unhappy with costs (vs. 34 percent globally).

Meanwhile, over one-quarter (26 percent) are dissatisfied with their financial situation in Brazil, compared to 18 percent worldwide, ranking the country a poor 58th place for this factor.

While the same share of expats globally and in Brazil (49 percent) express that their disposable household income is more than enough to cover their daily costs, 17 percent of expats working in Brazil also say that their income is a lot lower than it would be in their home country (vs. 9 percent globally).

Personal Safety Still an Issue

Brazil also places poorly for quality of life, ranking 61st in this index. It finds itself once again at the bottom of the heap regarding safety and security (64th place), something that seems to be an issue for expats before even arriving in Brazil: 58 percent recall that this was a major concern before moving (vs. 12 percent globally).

A shocking 61 percent even rate their personal safety badly, compared to just 9 percent globally. “Personal safety in public is an ongoing concern,” shares one US American expat in Brazil.

Similarly, just 38 percent give Brazil’s peacefulness a positive rating, forty percentage points less than the global average (78 percent). Personal safety in public is an ongoing concern

However, Brazil doesn’t just lose out because of safety and security: the country ranks just 54th in the Health & Well-Being subcategory. A below-average 56 percent rate the quality of Brazilian medical care positively (vs. 65 percent globally), and just 36 percent agree that healthcare is affordable (vs. 55 percent globally).

For the sixth year, InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with 3.6 million members, publishes its Expat Insider survey. With more than 20,000 respondents, it is one of the most extensive surveys about living and working abroad, sharing insights into expat life in 64 destinations.

The survey offers in-depth information about expats’ satisfaction with the quality of life, ease of settling in, working life, personal finance, cost of living, and family life in their respective country of residence.

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