Friend Finding Hardest In the Nordics

Sweden and Norway have both ranked in the bottom 10 in a new survey of Expats in the category of ‘ease of settling in’. The survey comes from InterNations, a social discovery platform designed for expats specifically. 

Some 32 per cent of expats described locals as unfriendly in Norway for example. Globally that rate sat at 18 per cent. Additionally 51 per cent said it is hard to make local friends and 38 per cent were unhappy with their social life. So it is possible in Norway, but their are higher rates of unsatisfied expats than in other places around the world when it comes to social life, and Sweden reported similar numbers

In such countries the importance of social discovery apps like InterNations is doubly important. It’s the platform that offers expats a way to connect, organise meetings and events, and make connections with fellow expats. It boasts more than 4.8 million users and operates communities in over 420 cities around the world.

For the Nordic countries’ benefit – it should be noted that they rank near the bottom in the largest survey of its kind, but still a limited survey of just 53 countries. And Sweden did not rank in the bottom 10 overall for expats, scoring higher in other categories such as work or finances etc.

Whatever country expats are in – a platform or app specifically designed to help them make connections is a fantastic idea, and it’s not surprising to see InterNations has been operating for nearly 16 years and still going strong.