Czechia voted one of the best countries in the world for expats

Have you ever wondered which country is the best choice for expats? Well, there’re better and worse places for sure but rest assured because the Czech Republic ranked 7th! It’s among the best countries in the world for foreigners who don’t want to only visit as tourists but also live and find a job here for a few months or even years.

The survey was conducted by the Expat Insider in 2021 and had 12 420 participants representing 174 nationalities. The survey took 37 categories into account, reflecting various aspects of everyday life while rating people’s overall satisfaction with living abroad.

The main categories included the quality of life (options for leisure, personal happiness, travel and transportation, health and wellbeing, safety and security, digital life, environment), ease of settling in (feeling at home, friendliness, making friends, language), personal finance and working abroad (career prospects and satisfaction, work and leisure, economy and job security).

Czechia is a great place to work

Czechia ranked in the top 3 in the working abroad category for five consecutive years since 2017. Generally, expats are really happy with their working hours which are on average 41.5 hours per week. 80% of expats are also more than content with their work-life balance. The Czech economy is seen positively by most expats and Prague ranks 14th in the finance index. Two thirds of the respondents are satisfied with their salaries and overall financial situation.

We have excellent transportation

Czechia takes the 4th place in travel and transportation category with 97% of respondents rating exceedingly positively. We have a great infrastructure and it’s easy to travel anywhere since Czechia is situated in the centre of Europe. Public transport in cities (the underground, trams and buses) are almost always exactly on time and even though intercity trains can be a bit late sometimes, they’re still the best, the most affordable and the most comfortable means of transport between regions.

Healthcare is high quality and affordable

Our country ranks 6th in health and wellbeing. With the healthcare easily accessible and very high quality, you don’t have to be afraid to fall ill in Czechia. Having health insurance is compulsory here but it doesn’t cost a fortune. Almost everything is covered within it, maybe except for things like expensive new teeth and some rather cosmetic or non-standard procedures.

Housing costs are rather reasonable compared to Western Europe

In the cost of living index, Czechia takes 11th place. While rents in Prague are considerably high, it’s still much less when compared to big Western European cities. If you choose a smaller city, rents get much cheaper even for large apartments. It might not be as cheap for students who don’t earn any money yet but universities offer dormitories or you can try flat-sharing.

There are some drawbacks but not many

Admittedly, Czech people are not considered the friendliest nation in the world, ranking 55th in local friendliness index. However, some foreigners often find it rather refreshing because Czechs rarely fake a smile and complain openly. If you ask a Czech “how are you,” you won’t get a generic answer so be prepared to hear about all of their problems!

Another downside is the language barrier. Czech is one of the most difficult languages in the world and especially the older generation doesn’t speak English. You might be successful with trying German and Russian, though. While it’s not a problem in Prague that is always full of tourists, you might have a problem if you settle into a small city.

But don’t be that afraid of the language barrier. While it might be a good idea to try cramming some Czech words and phrases beforehand to impress people, university students and lecturers almost always speak English so you shouldn’t really face any serious problems. Our accent might sound funny a bit but we do understand you and your classmates and school administrators will be no doubt helpful.