Top 20 expat cities

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This article from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a bit old (Aug 06) and I found it some time ago but found it again and thought I'd post some of it.

I noticed there were a lot of cities starting with "S". I seem to have an affinity with cities starting with "S" I think.


fDi picks out the 20 best places for an expatriate posting.

BARCELONA, Spain

BUDAPEST, Hungary

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina

CAPE TOWN, South Africa

CHICAGO, USA

DUBAI, UAE

DUBLIN, Ireland

HONG KONG, China

LONDON, UK

MANAMA, Bahrain

MUMBAI, India

NEW YORK, USA

SAN DIEGO, USA

SANTIAGO, Chile

SHANGHAI, China

If New York is the city that never sleeps, Shanghai is the city that never stands still. The frenetic pace has become its very hallmark – from the never-ending development, to the stylishly dressed inhabitants power-walking down the streets, to the rushing influx of foreign companies establishing operations here. At the same time, traditional Chinese culture is alive and well in the city; like most Asian cities, it has a vibrant market scene where just about any goods – legally manufactured or not – are available alongside stalls preparing traditional cuisine and steam carts selling ready-to-eat food.

The pace is reflected not only in the city’s streets, but also in the business community. Conducting commerce in China has never been for the faint-hearted, and that is doubly true for Shanghai, which has a reputation as being especially Darwinistic. But like inhabitants of other rough-and-tumble capital cities, the Shanghainese would not have it any other way.

SINGAPORE, Singapore

STOCKHOLM, Sweden

SYDNEY, Australia

TORONTO, Canada

ZURICH, Switzerland



If I could live anywhere in the world I would have to rule out a lot of places due to:
1. Legalities of being able to live and work there long-term
2. Cold weather. I just cannot deal with it, esp. if it's below 5 degrees C for more than 2 months of the year. I also hate constant hot, humid weather (notably the insects that it brings).
3. Language issues. I'm up for learning a new language but it depends on how difficult the language is. I think Russian, Arabic, Polish or Finnish could be a bit of a challenge!

I could go on but of the list above the ones I could live in and would like to live in (above issues aside) are:

Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, New York, San Diego, Stockholm, Toronto or Zurich (Sydney and Shanghai obviously don't count since I've already lived there). I'm not interested in the others for reasons I won't go into here.

So... where would you live if you could live anywhere?