Search icon

Lifestyle

09th Sep 2017

Study finds which countries are the most friendly and least friendly in the world

The UK doesn't rank high

Rory Cashin

What do you make of this?

InterNations complied an Expat Index, asking those who have moved and are now living abroad, to rank the countries that they live in now in a vast number of different ways.

One of those rankings involve rating a country’s friendliness, and the ease at which you might make new friends there.

Things they’ve learned from the results: Portugal is very friendly, as is most of Central and South America. A lot of central Europe, and particularly Scandinavia, appear to be one big cold shoulder to newbies in the area.

The United Kingdom ranked 14th in the LEAST friendly.

Most Friendly Top Ten:

  1. Portugal
  2. Mexico
  3. Taiwan
  4. Cambodia
  5. Costa Rica
  6. Colombia
  7. Oman
  8. Philippines
  9. Bahrain
  10. Vietnam

Least Friendly Top Ten:

  1. Kuwait
  2. Austria
  3. Czech Republic
  4. Finland
  5. Switzerland
  6. Saudi Arabia
  7. Denmark
  8. Hungary
  9. Qatar
  10. Sweden

Meanwhile, the UK came 17th for MOST difficult in making friends in.

Making Friends Top Ten:

  1. Costa Rica
  2. Mexico
  3. Argentina
  4. Uganda
  5. Malta
  6. Bahrain
  7. Oman
  8. Cambodia
  9. Philippines
  10. Columbia

Making Friends Bottom Ten:

  1. Sweden
  2. Denmark
  3. Norway
  4. Switzerland
  5. Kuwait
  6. Qatar
  7. Germany
  8. Austria
  9. Finland
  10. Saudi Arabia