VIETNAM Ranked 5th Best Country for Expats in 2025

Posted by Asia Views | Sep 18, 2025 | 0 |

Foreigners cheer when watching a UEFA European Football Championship match live in Hanoi, July 11, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Pham Chieu

VNExpress-Sept 17

Vietnam has been named the world’s fifth-best destination for expatriates in InterNations’ Expat Insider 2025 survey, marking its strongest overall showing to date and cementing its status as a value-for-money hub in Asia. The Southeast Asian country sits behind Panama, Colombia, Mexico, and Thailand in the global top five. Rounding out the top 10 are China in sixth place, followed by the UAE, Indonesia, Spain and Malaysia. Affordability is a major driver of Vietnam’s performance. The country ranks 1st worldwide in the Personal Finance Index for the fifth year in a row, with almost nine in ten expats pleased with the cost of living (89%) and an equally impressive share saying their disposable income is sufficient to live comfortably (87%), far above the global averages. Beyond value, Vietnam also posts solid results for career and day-to-day life. Vietnam also ranks 8th on InterNations’ Happiness Level, indicating high overall life satisfaction among foreign residents. The picture is not uniformly rosy. While cost-of-living advantages remain a standout, Vietnam does not crack the top 15 for Quality of Life in 2025, suggesting room to improve in areas such as public transport, leisure options, environmental factors or healthcare infrastructure compared with leading destinations.

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

VIETNAM Ranked 5th Best Country for Expats in 2025

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