Migrants rank Ireland the fourth most ‘welcoming’ nation in the world

Ireland has been ranked the world’s fourth most welcoming country in a comprehensive survey covering 195 different nations.

More than 14,000 people who moved abroad, from 170 different nationalities, were quizzed in a poll to assess their experiences of living in their respective adopted countries.

Ireland was ranked in fourth position in a chart of the most welcoming countries in 2015,up from 12th position the previous year.

And in a separate category, entitled ‘friendliness’, Ireland was voted in sixth place — an increase from 12th position in that table last year.

The study was part of the Expat Insider 2015 survey, carried out by Munich-based Internations, a global network and information site representing 1.9m people who work and live abroad.

Commenting on Ireland’s ranking, the company’s CEO, Malte Zeeck, said: “Ex-pats perceive the Irish as being one of the most welcoming people in the world, always happy to show you around and share their stories.

“For all the Irish beauty, rich history and culture, it is the friendly and engaging locals who make life in Ireland such a memorable experience.”

The findings also place Ireland as the second friendliest country in Europe — falling behind Portugal, the only other European country to make it into the top ten in both tables.

Myanmar, a relatively new country to open its doors to foreign residents, topped both the friendliness and welcoming polls, with an overwhelming 94% of ex-pats there praising the friendly nature of the locals.

On the opposite end of the scale, the local populations in the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia were judged to be very unfriendly towards foreign residents, while Kuwait was at the very bottom of the ranking.

The oil-rich Arab state also came in last place in the separate ‘friendliness’ table, after 53% of respondents described the local population as unfriendly and they found it hard to make friends.

Other findings reveal that foreigners based in South America — particularly, Peru and Argentina — tend to socialise most with locals, while the Arab Gulf states and Luxembourg are the countries where ex-pats are the least likely to have local residents as friends.