Is Australia Really the Best Place to Raise Expat Kids?

Is living in Australia the healthiest option for your expat children? HSBC´s Offshore Offspring Report recently took in factors such as adjustment period to the culture and schools, time spent outdoors, food consumed, etc, and found that of all of the countries researched, the crown for healthiest country for raising kids goes indeed to the Land Down Under.

To be noted is the fact that the study only compared (in order of healthiest to least healthy) Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the UK. My completely biased reasoning for them not including more countries in the survey…they were scared that Argentina would blow everyone out of the water!

It is said that expat kids living in Australia see an 88% increase in time that they spend outdoors. They spend remarkably less time in front of a computer or television than they did in their former country.

The worst countries for time spent outdoors? The United States and the UK. Kids who moved from other countries to the US or the UK saw a 43% increase in time spent watching television, and a 27% increase in time spent playing computer games.

Also sad, but noteworthy, is that kids moving to the US saw a dramatic 47% increase in junk food consumed. Not surprising, but embarrassing for the US nonetheless. The US beat out the UK only slightly when it came to childrens´ health, only because kids in the US participate in more sports.

When it came to integrating into the new culture, 83% of kids moving to Australia said it was very easy for them to make new friends. Common language is probably the most obvious factor for this. 76% said that adjusting to school was not a problem.

Parents might want to take note that 75% of expats who moved to Australia feel that the safety of their child has dramatically increased since they made the move.

And with all that time saved from not watching television or sitting in front of the computer, expat families in Australia have found that the quality of family time spent together has seen an increase since making the move. Families report that they spend more time outside or enjoying leisure activities together than ever before.

Do you agree with the findings of this study? Do you feel that your new country should rank higher than Australia? Why? Send your thoughts or comments to editor@expatdailynews.com. I would love to hear from other expat families!


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