HSBC's Expat Economics 2009 - Excerpts

HSBC Offshore has conducted its Expat Explorer survey over the course of the last few years, which has yielded valuable information about expatriate trends. Below you will find a few excerpts from their "Expat Economics 2009," which is from the Expat Explorer survey data.

Wealth is moving East

Asia is home to the highest paid expats in the world, with one in four expats earning more than US$200,000 per year. The wealthiest expats are found in Russia, Japan and Qatar with an annual income in excess of US$200,000 and a monthly disposable income of more than US$3,000. Over one-third of expats surveyed in Russia, 40% in Japan and 22% in Qatar answered that their annual income was over this US$200,000 mark.

Belgium and Australia are home to the least wealthy expats, with almost two-thirds (61%) of expats in Belgium and 63% of expats in Australia saying that their annual salary was US$100,000 or less. This compares to an average figure of 35% across all expats surveyed.

An increase in saving and investing

Many expatriates have taken advantage of their current location to increase their savings. The Middle East is the strongest region for saving with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar all coming in the top five spots in the league table. The UAE and India were also top countries to save in the 2008 Expat Explorer report.

Expats in the UK were the worst savers/investors globally, with over a quarter of expats living in the UK (27% - the highest recorded in the survey) saying that they had reduced their savings and investments when compared to their home country. Savings accounts are the most popular way to save for expats across virtually all markets, with the exceptions of Mexico, Malaysia, Japan and South Africa.

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