BRAZIL AND KENYA LEADING THE LIST OF MOST DANGEROUS PLACES TO LIVE

By Our Staff Reporter

Kenya was ranked among the top 10 most dangerous country to live in for expatriates in a new survey carried out by InterNations, a global community and information site for people who live and work abroad.

Results of the survey conducted in 64 countries around the world are contained in the Expat Insider 2019 report, which was published by Forbes.

During the study, InterNations interviewed 20,259 expats representing 182 nationalities and living in 187 countries or territories.

Respondents were asked to score 48 different factors related to living abroad, which were put into five main pillars namely; quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, family life, and personal finance.

The East African country was ranked as the 7th worst place to live in, with a majority of respondents saying Kenyan streets feel unsafe as one has to be vigilant.

A Danish expat said walking around Kenyan streets is a ‘No’ for them and that they have to “drive or be driven everywhere.”

A Croatian said that expats in Kenya are easily conned or robbed as locals believe foreigners are wealthy. They also mentioned extortion by police officers, who demand bribe on non-existing charges.

“The roads are in an awful state, traffic is just terrible, and the city is dirty!” another expat said.

Topping the list of the most dangerous places to live is Brazil, with South Africa coming in as the second-worst place, followed by Nigeria.

“Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria—the bottom three countries in the Safety & Security subcategory—are also the three worst-rated destinations for personal safety in particular," says Malte Zeeck, founder and co-CEO of InterNations. 

"For example, in South Africa, which ranks 64 out of 64 countries for this factor, 63% of expats say they don’t feel safe, and 22% even feel extremely unsafe.”

While the United States ranked 16 on the list of the 20 most dangerous places to live in 2019, it fared better than in 2018, when the country came in at number 13. Zeeck points out that the USA’s ranking has improved, but it has only moved up three spots for personal safety (from 54th in 2018 to 51st in 2019).

"Last year, about one in six expats (16%) said they didn’t feel safe in the USA; today, it’s one in seven (14%) expressing the same opinion," says Zeeck. "So, the respondents’ views have become just slightly more positive."

And yet, Zeeck says that the overall results are not good for this country and that the USA’s 49th place in the 2019 Safety & Security subcategory is "still not really anything to write home about. 

A large number of respondents also point at safety factors and current affairs when describing what they do not like about life in the U.S."

That said, the timing of promoting InterNations's questionnaires might have impacted the slightly different results, according to Zeeck. "The 2018 survey ran in late February / early March, not too long after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

This was widely reported about at the time and, as the survey is based on expats’ subjective opinions, it may well have affected how they rated the country at the time."

However, gun violence still remains a major concern in 2019. "When asked about the aspects of life in the U.S. that they like the least, a substantial number spontaneously gave answers such as ‘lack of gun control’ or ‘violent crime involving guns’ and so on," says Zeeck.

"A Portuguese expat even says that 'gun culture could be the trigger for me to move out of the country due to safety concerns'—that’s quite a statement.”

One notable newcomer to this year's list of most dangerous places to live is the United Kingdom, which ranked number 12.

“Our Safety & Security subcategory looks at three factors: personal safety, peacefulness and political stability. While the U.K. does not perform well for any of these, it is especially the latter that heavily impacts its results in 2019, causing it to drop from a 49th place out of 68 destinations in 2018 to rank 53rd out of 64 in 2019," says Zeeck.

According to Zeeck, the political situation in the U.K. has had an impact: "Just a third of respondents (33%) rate the political situation in the U.K. positively, a steep drop from the somewhat below-average result in 2018." - Africa