Ho Chi Minh City recently made it into the top 10 cities for expats according to data collected in a survey of more than 12,000 expat respondents from across the globe.

The Expat City Ranking 2021, which was released on Wednesday, is part of the Expat Insider 2021 survey launched by international online expat community InterNations in January.

According to InterNations, Expat Insider 2021 respondents were invited to share their opinions on their current city of residence through questions like ‘Does it have a convenient public transportation system?’ ‘What is the local housing market like?’ and ‘How do they view their career opportunities, and how would they rate their social life?’

Thanks to their insights, the Expat City Ranking 2021 offers an overview of the 57 best- and worst-rated cities for expats worldwide.

The overall ranking for the cities is categorized into five indices, including quality of urban living, getting settled, urban work life, finance and housing, and local cost of living, with each index consisting of distinct subcategories.

Ranking sixth out of 57 cities, Ho Chi Minh City made it into the top 10 in four indices, and wound up in the bottom 10 in the fifth - quality of urban living.

In the finance and housing index, the city tops the list in the finance subcategory, with 75 percent of the expats saying that their disposable household income is more than enough to cover expenses while 77 percent are satisfied with their financial situation, the survey showed.

In terms of urban work life, the Vietnamese city was voted as the best when it comes to overall job satisfaction, with 88 percent of the expats satisfied with their profession in general.

In getting settled, 77 percent found it easy to make new friends, 74 percent are happy with their social life in Ho Chi Minh City while 93 percent described the local people as generally friendly toward foreign residents.

While 80 percent found it hard to learn the local language, 77 percent said it is easy to live there without speaking it.

In general, 89 percent of the expats said they are happily living in Ho Chi Minh City.

Last year, Vietnam ranked 19th out of 66 cities covered in the Expat City Ranking 2020.

A graphic by InterNations shows how expats rank seven cities in Asia in 2021.

Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur topped this year's ranking while Spain’s Málaga came second and the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai ranked third.

Australia’s Sydney finished fourth while another Asian city, Singapore, ranked fifth.

The other four spots in the top 10 include the Czech Republic’s Prague, Mexico’s Mexico City, Switzerland’s Basel, and Spain’s Madrid, in descending order.

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