Qatar is 3rd best country to be an expat

In terms of 'Economics', Qatar is the 3rd best country in the world to live as an expatriate - after Switzerland and China. 

When taking 'Experience' and 'Raising children' into account, Qatar then drops down to 13th on a global scale. 

This is all according to a recent study by British bank HSBC that looked at economic opportunities and quality of life for expats in 34 countries. 

But this study focuses only on part of the expat community - unskilled labourers are seemingly not included in the study. 

The worst of these 34 countries to be an expat is Egypt, which has seen xenophobia rise considerably since this summer's military coup, the Washington Post reported.

Generally, the report continued, Middle Eastern countries tend be worse places for expats, owing to legislation that makes it tougher for foreigners to own property and because of formal and informal social restrictions that can cut back on quality of life.

The exceptions are Bahrain and Qatar, since the two very wealthy and very small Persian Gulf states have governments that strive to attract the wealthy expats they see as crucial to building businesses there.

It should go without saying that HSBC's study does not consider "guest workers" in its measurements.

Gulf states, particularly Qatar, have notorious reputations for mistreating migrant laborers from South and Southeast Asia, who work in difficult conditions and with few protections.

Looking at 'Experience' only, Qatar sits closer to the bottom of the list at number 29, out of the 37 countries. But in terms of 'Raising children', Qatar is second last, sitting at number 23 out of 24 countries that had sufficient data. 

Have a look at the full results of the study here, and read more of the WP analysis here.