Hong Kong beats Singapore in expat survey by HSBC, but Mumbai best for salaries
City ranks ninth in HSBC Expat Explorer Survey of 27,000 expatriates carried out by YouGov
Expatriates in Hong Kong earn, on average, just three quarters of their equivalents in Shanghai, and two thirds compared with those in Mumbai, according to new figures from HSBC. But those in Singapore are further behind.
Nonetheless, pure salary figures are not everything and respondents to the HSBC Expat Explorer Survey in Singapore were more likely to cite their city’s clean and safe public spaces and convenient public transport as advantages than those in either Hong Kong or Shanghai. Those who have moved to Singapore were also more likely to own a home in their new city, the survey found.
HSBC said the mean gross personal annual income of expatriates it surveyed in Shanghai was US$202,000, ranking the city fourth globally, compared with US$148,000 in Hong Kong (ninth globally) and US$177,000 in Singapore. The highest salaries for expats anywhere in the world were found in Mumbai, where expats earned US$217,000 annually on average, compared with a global average of U$100,000.
The figures come from an online survey of more than 27,000 expats carried out by YouGov on behalf of HSBC. Of the respondents in Hong Kong, 36 per cent were from the financial services sector.
