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Living Abroad

Where Expats (Don’t) Have To Worry About Finances & Housing

Three Southeast Asian cities are at the top of the Finance & Housing Index in the Expat Insider survey report — while destinations in Western Europe do not do well.

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The Finance & Housing Index measures expats’ satisfaction with the availability and affordability of housing abroad, as well as their financial situation and their disposable household income in relation to living expenses. Taking a closer look at the findings offers unique insights into life abroad in various destinations.

The results are based on the annual Expat Insider survey by InterNations, one of the biggest surveys on life abroad. In 2021, over 12,000 expats representing 174 nationalities shared their opinions.

The Winners

Kuala Lumpur ranks first in the Finance & Housing Index 2021, continuing its winning streak: the Malaysian capital also came first in 2020 and has consistently ranked in the top 3 of the index since 2017. The vast majority (91%) agrees that it’s easy to find housing in Kuala Lumpur as an expat (vs. 60% globally) — 60% even agree completely (vs. 24% globally). Housing is also regarded as affordable by an above-average share of 74% (vs. 42% globally). Another 29% — that’s more than twice the global average of 14% — even consider housing very affordable.

Costs in general don’t seem to be a problem: 64% say their disposable household income is more than they need to cover daily expenses (vs. 52% worldwide). An impressive four in five respondents in Kuala Lumpur (80%) are also satisfied with their financial situation (vs. 64% globally).

Vietnam’s largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, joins Kuala Lumpur on the podium, ranking second. Three in four expats (75%) agree that their disposable household income is more than enough to cover daily expenses (vs. 52% globally). Over a third (34%) also give the local cost of living the best possible rating (vs. 14% globally). Expats also praise how easy it is to find housing in Ho Chi Minh City (88% of positive answers vs. 60% globally) and how affordable it is (61% vs. 42% globally).

Like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok has always done well in the Finance & Housing Index since 2017, even landing in third place in 2021. Close to half the respondents in Thailand’s capital (49%) agree completely that it is easy for expats to find housing (vs. 24% globally). And nearly two-thirds (64%) rate its affordability positively (vs. 42% worldwide). An above-average percentage(83%) also find that their disposable household income is sufficient or even more than enough to cover their daily expenses (vs. 77% globally).

The Worst-Ranked Destinations

In comparison, the situation for expats in several Western European cities looks unfortunately rather different. Dublin ranks last in the index for the fourth year in a row. Respondents are particularly dissatisfied with the local housing situation: 79% rate the affordability of housing negatively (vs. 39% globally). More than half (52%) even say it is very bad (vs. only 12% worldwide). Housing is also hard to come by for expats: over a quarter of respondents in the Irish capital (26%) do not agree at all that it’s easy to find housing (vs. 7% globally). Dublin does somewhat better in the Finance Subcategory of the index, but it still ends up in the bottom half of the ranking (39th out of 57 cities).

In second-to-last place, Munich receives results that are quite similar to Dublin’s. In fact, it is even the worst city worldwide when it comes to expats’ ease of finding housing: 72% rate this factor negatively, and close to a quarter (24%) even find that it is very difficult (vs. a global 23%and 7%, respectively). Over four in five (83%) also rate its affordability negatively, more than double the global average of 39%. Munich’s results in the Finance Subcategory are more average: 78% agree that their disposable household income is enough or more than enough to pay for everything they need (vs. 77% globally).

Milan joins Dublin and Munich in the bottom 3. However, expats in Italy’s second-largest city are mostly dissatisfied with their financial situation: Milan ranks last for both factors of the Finance Subcategory. In fact, less than two in five expats in Milan (39%) are happy with their financial situation (vs. 64% globally), and the same share says that their disposable household income is not enough to cover all expenses (vs. 23% globally).

Find out more in the complete Expat Insider 2021 report.

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Future

AI Is Good For Education — And Bad For Teachers Who Teach Like Machines

Despite fears of AI upending the education and the teaching profession, artificial education will be an extremely valuable tool to free up teachers from rote exercises to focus on the uniquely humanistic part of learning.

Journalism teacher and his students in University of Barcelona.

Journalism students at the Blanquerna University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

© Sergi Reboredo via ZUMA press
Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ - Early in 2023, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates included teaching among the professions most threatened by Artificial Intelligence (AI), arguing that a robot could, in principle, instruct as well as any school-teacher. While Gates is an undoubted expert in his field, one wonders how much he knows about teaching.

As an avowed believer in using technology to improve student results, Gates has argued for teachers to use more tech in classrooms, and to cut class sizes. But schools and countries that have followed his advice, pumping money into technology at school, or students who completed secondary schooling with the backing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have not attained the superlative results expected of the Gates recipe.

Thankfully, he had enough sense to add some nuance to his views, instead suggesting changes to teacher training that he believes could improve school results.

I agree with his view that AI can be a big and positive contributor to schooling. Certainly, technological changes prompt unease and today, something tremendous must be afoot if a leading AI developer, Geoffrey Hinton, has warned of its threat to people and society.

But this isn't the first innovation to upset people. Over 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Socrates wondered, in the Platonic dialogue Phaedrus, whether reading and writing wouldn't curb people's ability to reflect and remember. Writing might lead them to despise memory, he observed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, English craftsmen feared the machines of the Industrial Revolution would destroy their professions, producing lesser-quality items faster, and cheaper.

Their fears were not entirely unfounded, but it did not happen quite as they predicted. Many jobs disappeared, but others emerged and the majority of jobs evolved. Machines caused a fundamental restructuring of labor at the time, and today, AI will likely do the same with the modern workplace.

Many predicted that television, computers and online teaching would replace teachers, which has yet to happen. In recent decades, teachers have banned students from using calculators to do sums, insisting on teaching arithmetic the old way. It is the same dry and mechanical approach to teaching which now wants to keep AI out of the classroom.

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