“Travel while you’re young.” It’s a familiar adage with an obvious simplicity. Young and hopefully upwardly mobile millennials are constantly grappling with their next life choices. Should you finish, drop out, or go back to school? What should you study? Should you take that internship or keep applying elsewhere?
The pressures we feel about our careers and education are obviously tied up with our worries about the future. Especially in an uncertain economy, there’s nothing out of the ordinary in worrying, but if you’re in your 20’s—a decade as associated with fun as it is hard work—it’s also worth stepping back and appreciating the moment. While school might be the quintessential intersection of work and play, the rest of your 20’s can be just as adventurous. But in the United States, a lot of people are averse to the most obvious form of sprucing things up: travel. According to a recent study by The Boston Consulting Group and The Network, only 35% of Americans said they’d move overseas for a job, just over half of the worldwide average of 64% responding affirmatively to the same question. But, and as usual, millennials are different, with 59% admitting that they’d move to another country for work.
The study is interesting on its own—what does it say about millennials and/or the economy that so many of us would uproot?—and if nothing else, it proves that a new trend might be in the works. Moving abroad for work is daunting, but less so as a young person than as someone creeping into middle age or starting a family. The decision doesn’t have to be permanent, and even a short (but fulfilled) stint outside of the country can work wonders on your resume and inject a unique bit of job experience. There are plenty of things to consider of course: is a language barrier a deal breaker? What’s the job landscape like? Can you afford, both financially and otherwise, to be out of the country for an extended period of time?
With all of the above in mind, check out a shortlist of some of the best countries for a potential millennial expat to start over in below*:
- India: Despite its bourgeoning status as an economic superpower, India still has an incredibly low cost of living. That in-transition status makes one of the biggest countries in the world the perfect place to start a new job, career, life, or family.
- Hong Kong: Wildly different than the mainland, Hong Kong’s status as an economic hub has magnetized expats. If you’re in the right industry—technology and finance are perpetually doing well—Hong Kong has huge money and an active social life waiting.
- China: While the economic landscape might be less acute than in Hong Kong, mainland China has the best economy in the world for expats.
- Canada: Canada might not be the first country that comes to mind when we think about a change of scenery, but our Northern neighbors have plenty to brag about and can allow an easier lifestyle transition than most any other country on this list.
- Germany: With the rest of the Eurozone flailing, Germany has been an economic stalwart. The country is full of jobs, but it also has one of the highest costs of living.
- Vietnam: Jobs are plentiful, everything is cheap, and the food is great. Healthcare, however, is an obvious sore spot for plenty of expats.
- Australia: Australia might not be a land of vast economic opportunity, but the cultural draw and great outdoors have been more than enough for plenty of expats to flock down under.
- United Arab Emirates: On one hand, there’s money basically flowing in the streets in the UAE. On the other, most young Americans will encounter one of the toughest language barriers in the world and a culture shock just as severe.
*Countries culled from HSBC’s 2014 Expat Explorer survey & corresponding Business Insider report.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish