Overseas Filipino Workers: 20 Best Places to Live (Based on Statistics)

Being an OFW (Overseas Filipino worker) myself, I have been confronted with the question before on which country is the best place to live and work. Of course, the ultimate answer would be the United States of America, because most Filipinos would want to migrate on the most powerful nation in the world. However, I was personally not contented with that popular answer and I want to find out based on government statistics and a data-based interpretation. This is not perhaps to justify my choice to live in Norway, which happens to be ranked number 2 in the list. 

To answer my question, I made used of the data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or the Central Bank of the Philippines on the remittances of OFWs grouped according to countries. My assumption is that the amount of remittance per OFW would reflect indirectly the income they are earning in the country. Of course, this assumption is limited to the fact that every person varies in the amount of remittances and there exists multitude of factors affecting these remittances. However, the data is the most objective available to address the problem. Moreover, I utilized the data from the Commission of Filipino Overseas. According to the latest data, there are 10,4 million Filipinos working and living outside the Filipinos, of which almost 47% acquired permanent residency status. A permanent residency status is considered an ultimate goal of every OFW because this provides stability in income and increase quality of life.

The data included 123 countries. There are countries excluded in the list because either there are less than 200 Filipino residents registered in the country and the accumulated remittance of all residents did not exceed 1000 US Dollars. The ranking is based on an adjusted point, which is simply the product of the % of permanent residents and the average remittance per resident. Here is the list of the 20 places recommended for OFWs based on statistics.

1. Monaco

On the top 20 list, Monaco is considered the least in terms of the number of Filipinos living in the small country on the Mediterranean coast, but the estimated remittance per resident is 33,796 USD annually. In the Philippines, that amount is equivalent to annual gross income before tax. Fortunately, over 86% of Filipinos have acquired permanent residency. These are the reasons why Monaco is on top of the list. Therefore, Monaco is not just the haven of the world's ultra rich but the home of Filipinos sending most remittance to the Philippines.

2. Norway

This oil-rich Scandinavian country is home to about 18,000 Filipinos. According to statistics, most Filipinos work in health-related services. The total amount remittances is not as big as popular countries like Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States of America, but the average amount of remittance per resident is almost 20,000 USD annually. That almost ten times the average amount sent by its counterparts in USA and Canada. This makes Norway on top of the list of countries with residents over 1,000. However, the Norwegian language makes it a primary hindrance why more Filipinos would migrate in the country.

3. Germany

The largest European economy is third on our list. Almost three-fourth of Filipinos living in Germany are permanent residents. This is perhaps the reason why these Filipino residents send huge amounts of remittances to the Philippines annually. Although the German language may pose a problem for OFWs but the expected gross income would be a good motivation to continue living in the beautiful country.

4. Japan

Japan is the one of the two Asian countries on the list. It tops the percentage of permanent residency at 89%. It is also the home of most Filipinos with permanent residency outside the Philippines within Asia. It is however second to Singapore in terms of the total Filipino residents. Filipinos working in Japan are earning obviously higher than those Filipinos in other parts of the world.

5. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is the most Filipinos with permanent residency lives within Europe. However, it is almost equal with Italy in terms of the size of the Filipino community. Moreover, Filipinos living in the United Kingdom sends the largest sum of remittances to the Philippines. The huge Filipino population is perhaps due to language advantage and the increasing trend of Filipino nurses to migrate in the country. 

6. Netherlands

Interestingly, The Netherlands has a significant Filipino community. It has one of the largest in Europe in terms of permanent residency. The thriving Dutch economy has contributed to the increase remittance sent by Filipinos living in the country.

7. Guam/Northern Marianas

The Northern Marianas is a group of islands in the east of the Philippines on the Pacific Ocean. Due to the shared history, its proximity and close association with the United States of America, many Filipinos have migrated to the place. The choice of these Filipinos are worthwhile since almost 75 percent gets permanent residency and send remittances higher compared to those Filipinos in the mainland America.

8. Switzerland

This neutral European country in the Alps is the home of almost 20,000 Filipinos. Two-thirds of which are permanent residents and the stability of the Swiss Francs have contributed to the large amount of remittances sent by Filipinos living there.

9. Denmark

This is the second Scandinavian country in the list. Although a slightly smaller Filipino community lives in the Danish nation, compared to Norway, many still acquire permanent residency. Although compared to Sweden (84%), Norway (74%) and Finland (75%), Denmark implements perhaps the strictest immigration rules among the Scandinavian nation. This however has not hindered Filipinos to send significant amount of remittances to the Philippines.

10. Belgium

Belgium slightly lags behind its close neighbors, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. It grants less permanent residency status to Filipinos, but still there is a considerable number of Filipinos living and working in the country. The average annual remittance per resident is even almost double than that of the United States of America.

11. Finland

This is the third Scandinavian country on the list. Finland is perhaps better than Denmark in granting permanent residency to Filipinos, but the average remittance is slightly lower than the Danish counterpart. Interestingly, the land of the world's number of lakes is the home of almost 12,000 Filipinos.

12. United States

The United States of America tops the total amount of remittance, the number of residents, percentage of permanent residents and the number of permanent residents on the list. It is not surprising because in some states in the United States of America, the Filipino language is considered the third or fourth most spoken language. However in this list, it is ranked a little bit lower because average remittance per residents falls below its European counterparts. The estimated annual remittance is not bad at all that is over 100,000 pesos a year.

13. Austria

This is only the East European nation found in this list. This is the home of almost 13,000 Filipinos, of which two-thirds have acquired permanent residency status. This advantage has resulted for Filipinos to earn better and eventually send larger remittances to the Philippines.

14. Ireland

The Irish nation is the second home of Filipinos, like its neighboring United Kingdom. On the list, it is almost the same with Austria in terms of size of population, but has a smaller percentage of Filipinos getting permanent residency, but the average individual remittance is almost double than that of the Austrian counterpart.

15. Spain

Spain together with Germany are two European nations, which are generous enough to grant Filipinos with permanent residency. Although there are many Filipinos living in Spain, the former colonizer of the Philippines, the average remittance sent by Filipinos is not considerably high in comparison with United Kingdom, Germany and the Scandinavian countries.

16. Singapore

Undeniably, Singapore is the closest country in terms of distance, which is listed here. It is the home of the largest Filipino community outside the Philippines within Asia. However, noticeably only 21% of the Filipinos living there acquire permanent residency. 

17. Canada

Canada ranks second, next to its neighboring USA in terms of the size of Filipino community living outside the Philippines. However, the average annual remittance is significantly less than its European counterparts and even the United States.

18. Luxembourg

This landlocked country is home of a small Filipino community, numbering only 1,000. although there are only few Filipinos in the country, many earn higher compared to those living in the American continent. Although many Filipinos earn much higher than those in Austria, but Luxembourg grants less permanent residency status to Filipinos.

19. New Zealand

New Zealand is ranked higher than the larger neighbor, Australia. This is because the average annual remittance is almost 25% higher than those Filipinos in Australia. However, the size of the Filipino community is only 10% of that of Australia.

20. Australia

Although Australia gives a higher chances of getting permanent residency to Filipinos at 84%, making it the place of the largest Filipino community in Oceania. In spite of the large Filipino community and the huge amount to total remittances, Australia lags behind in terms of estimated annual individual remittances.

Interestingly, almost all of the countries in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman are ranked far behind on the list. This is because of the low percentage of Filipinos getting permanent residency to almost non-existent levels. The average annual remittance is however comparable to most European nations, and even higher than that of the United States, Canada and Australia.

RANK	COUNTRY	No. Permanent Residents (2013)	Total Residents (2013)	% of Permanent Residents	Remittance in 2014 (in thousands USD)	Estimated Remittance per Resident (USD)	Adjusted Points
1	MONACO	290	337	86,05 %	11389	33,796	29,0829
2	NORWAY	13351	18 088	73,81 %	358414	19,815	14,6257
3	GERMANY	36020	47 214	76,29 %	600447	12,718	9,7023
4	JAPAN	163532	182 917	89,40 %	1418547	7,755	6,9333
5	UNITED KINGDOM	161710	218 126	74,14 %	1564278	7,171	5,3166
6	NETHERLANDS	16339	21 789	74,99 %	145239	6,666	4,9984
7	NORTHERN MARIANAS	13591	18 078	75,18 %	88215	4,880	3,6685
8	SWITZERLAND	13376	20 910	63,97 %	96492	4,615	2,9519
9	DENMARK	7175	12 336	58,16 %	62122	5,036	2,9290
10	BELGIUM	7011	12 419	56,45 %	51296	4,130	2,3318
11	FINLAND	1936	2 577	75,13 %	7031	2,728	2,0497
12	UNITED STATES	3135293	3 535 676	88,68 %	7403533	2,094	1,8568
13	AUSTRIA	9132	13 636	66,97 %	37794	2,772	1,8561
14	IRELAND	5440	13 976	38,92 %	65070	4,656	1,8122
15	SPAIN	32226	42 804	75,29 %	94756	2,214	1,6667
16	SINGAPORE	44102	203 243	21,70 %	1401731	6,897	1,4966
17	CANADA	626668	721 578	86,85 %	1202090	1,666	1,4468
18	LUXEMBOURG	503	1 077	46,70 %	2980	2,767	1,2921
19	NEW ZEALAND	29008	39 091	74,21 %	67683	1,731	1,2848
20	AUSTRALIA	334096	397 982	83,95 %	596181	1,498	1,2575
21	SWEDEN	10871	12 938	84,02 %	15836	1,224	1,0284
22	KENYA	373	685	54,45 %	1168	1,706	0,9288
23	BRAZIL	260	805	32,30 %	2234	2,775	0,8963
24	FIJI	164	247	66,40 %	329	1,330	0,8831
25	KOREA (South)	15361	59 839	25,67 %	179762	3,004	0,7712
26	POLAND	227	490	46,33 %	758	1,548	0,7171
27	MEXICO	206	749	27,50 %	1677	2,239	0,6159
28	INDIA	382	1 469	26,00 %	3430	2,335	0,6071
29	LIBERIA	20	503	3,98 %	7161	14,236	0,566
30	SOUTH AFRICA	400	1 994	20,06 %	5532	2,774	0,5565
31	FRANCE	8848	48 018	18,43 %	130270	2,713	0,4999
32	HONG KONG	13591	201 094	6,76 %	914374	4,547	0,3073
33	ITALY	89742	271 946	33,00 %	251379	0,924	0,305
34	BRUNEI	17658	32 765	53,89 %	16965	0,518	0,279
35	SOLOMON	33	338	9,76 %	907	2,683	0,262
36	COSTA RICA	166	315	52,70 %	139	0,442	0,2329
37	CYPRUS	2709	19 948	13,58 %	29366	1,472	0,1999
38	HONDURAS	184	295	62,37 %	80	0,272	0,1695
39	CZECH REPUBLIC	99	683	14,49 %	649	0,950	0,1377
40	PORTUGAL	661	2 651	24,93 %	1351	0,509	0,127
41	ROMANIA	69	781	8,83 %	1068	1,367	0,1208
42	BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS	1	300	0,33 %	10116	33,72	0,1124
43	BOTSWANA	125	386	32,38 %	116	0,302	0,0977
44	PERU	29	211	13,74 %	149	0,707	0,0972
45	SWAZILAND	135	357	37,82 %	91	0,254	0,0962
46	ANGOLA	226	2 893	7,81 %	2992	1,034	0,0808
47	ISRAEL	2000	36 400	5,49 %	53271	1,463	0,0804
48	THAILAND	1580	16 224	9,74 %	13343	0,822	0,0801
49	CHINA (MAINLAND)	1852	29 691	6,24 %	32463	1,093	0,0682
50	TURKEY	882	5 186	17,01 %	2065	0,398	0,0677
51	TAIWAN	2459	89 195	2,76 %	213300	2,391	0,0659
52	TUNISIA	30	202	14,85 %	85	0,422	0,0627
53	MOZAMBIQUE	505	1 314	38,43 %	210	0,160	0,0613
54	ICELAND	1024	1 711	59,85 %	169	0,099	0,0592
55	MALTA	30	1 160	2,59 %	2536	2,186	0,0565
56	AZERBAIJAN	308	838	36,75 %	115	0,137	0,0503
57	ZAMBIA	95	1 444	6,58 %	1076	0,745	0,049
58	GUATEMALA	148	334	44,31 %	30	0,090	0,0399
59	VENEZUELA	97	206	47,09 %	17	0,083	0,0391
60	LEBANON	1573	29 113	5,40 %	21012	0,722	0,039
61	SURINAME	70	575	12,17 %	160	0,278	0,0339
62	COOK ISLANDS	82	281	29,18 %	32	0,113	0,033
63	INDONESIA	321	12 565	2,55 %	15632	1,244	0,0318
64	MARSHALL ISLANDS (MAJURO)	14	813	1,72 %	1397	1,718	0,0296
65	HAITI	251	502	50,00 %	28	0,056	0,0281
66	PAKISTAN	154	1 501	10,26 %	341	0,227	0,0233
67	RUSSIA	11	4 335	0,25 %	29499	6,805	0,0173
68	NIGERIA	240	7 240	3,31 %	3772	0,521	0,0173
69	JAMAICA	38	354	10,73 %	55	0,155	0,0166
70	MACAU	1930	17 922	10,77 %	2654	0,148	0,0159
71	PAPUA NEW GUINEA	782	26 153	2,99 %	12373	0,473	0,0141
72	EGYPT	1198	5 754	20,82 %	301	0,052	0,0109
73	ANDORRA	476	1 270	37,48 %	37	0,029	0,0109
74	BAHAMAS	20	738	2,71 %	291	0,394	0,0107
75	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO	1360	3 000	45,33 %	61	0,020	0,0093
76	GREECE	91	61 716	0,15 %	354253	5,740	0,0085
77	BANGLADESH	147	2 047	7,18 %	237	0,116	0,0083
78	MALAYSIA	26007	793 580	3,28 %	196264	0,247	0,0081
79	ETHIOPIA	2	593	0,34 %	1146	1,932	0,0065
80	KUWAIT	502	198 289	0,25 %	455353	2,296	0,0058
81	UAE	1711	822 410	0,21 %	2224598	2,705	0,0056
82	PUERTO RICO	10	350	2,86 %	64	0,184	0,0053
83	OMAN	140	55 590	0,25 %	115770	2,083	0,0052
84	NEW CALEDONIA	101	2 201	4,59 %	234	0,106	0,0049
85	LESOTHO	260	362	71,82 %	2	0,006	0,0045
86	GHANA	30	1 328	2,26 %	254	0,191	0,0043
87	IRAQ	22	922	2,39 %	163	0,177	0,0042
88	CAMBODIA	43	3 737	1,15 %	1159	0,310	0,0036
89	SIERRA LEONE	35	451	7,76 %	20	0,045	0,0035
90	SRI LANKA	2	933	0,21 %	1382	1,481	0,0032
91	BAHRAIN	91	72 083	0,13 %	172342	2,391	0,003
92	ARUBA	591	2 529	23,37 %	33	0,013	0,003
93	BERMUDA	2	1 999	0,10 %	4181	2,092	0,0021
94	MOROCCO	6	1 300	0,46 %	483	0,372	0,0017
95	CHILE	32	305	10,49 %	4	0,012	0,0012
96	AMERICAN SAMOA	500	2 567	19,48 %	13	0,005	0,001
97	JORDAN	151	29 766	0,51 %	4692	0,158	0,0008
98	SAUDI ARABIA	264	1 028 802	0,03 %	2843293	2,764	0,0007
99	UKRAINE	1	210	0,48 %	27	0,128	0,0006
100	KAZAKHSTAN	1	1 599	0,06 %	1292	0,808	0,0005
101	LAOS	2	1 314	0,15 %	458	0,348	0,0005
102	MALDIVES	25	4 100	0,61 %	302	0,074	0,0004
103	QATAR	16	204 550	0,01 %	698320	3,414	0,0003
104	AFGHANISTAN	1	1 609	0,06 %	820	0,509	0,0003
105	CAYMAN ISLANDS	1	2 501	0,04 %	1006	0,402	0,0002
106	LIBYA	53	9 595	0,55 %	294	0,031	0,0002
107	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	60	257	23,35 %	0	0,001	0,0002
108	MYANMAR	29	590	4,92 %	2	0,003	0,0001
109	SUDAN	215	2 750	7,82 %	4	0,002	0,0001
110	VIRGIN ISLANDS (US)	0	2 276	0,00 %	10116	4,445	0
111	VIETNAM	0	6 585	0,00 %	5250	0,797	0
112	TANZANIA	0	429	0,00 %	246	0,574	0
113	TIMOR-LESTE	0	1 535	0,00 %	776	0,506	0
114	SEYCHELLES	0	1 221	0,00 %	550	0,451	0
115	UGANDA	0	398	0,00 %	174	0,438	0
116	MONGOLIA	0	881	0,00 %	190	0,216	0
117	MADAGASCAR	0	2 339	0,00 %	242	0,104	0
118	CONGO	0	2 076	0,00 %	114	0,055	0
119	GABON	0	249	0,00 %	9	0,037	0
120	TURKS AND CAICOS ISLAND (WEST INDIES)	0	2 148	0,00 %	70	0,033	0
121	CHAD	0	538	0,00 %	13	0,024	0
122	DJIBOUTI	0	416	0,00 %	6	0,013	0
123	ALGERIA	30	6 251	0,48 %	1	0,000	0