Singapore is the best place to live in the world.

At least, that's what the expats say.

For a third year in a row, Singapore came in first in HSBC's annual expat survey, beating Norway, New Zealand and Germany.

The survey recorded the responses of over 27,000 expats in 159 different countries.

It included 27 questions on topics ranging from personal finance, work-life balance, and overall cost of raising children.

Expats like the cleanliness and safety here

So, what is it about Singapore that appeals to the expats living here?

The answer, according to three quarters of the expats surveyed, is clean streets, clean air, public transport system, and safety in the city-state.

In fact, 75 percent praised the city-state's "very clean and safe open spaces", as compared to just 25 percent of expats in other global cities.

Their perception of Singapore's education system is pretty good too.

Compared to 10 percent of expats globally, 26 percent of those living in Singapore praised its education system.

A British expat living here was quoted in the report saying that he "moved here for the forward-looking environment".

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Childcare is expensive here

However, some things will still remain unchanged.

When it comes to childcare in Singapore, almost nine in 10 expat parents (85 percent) say that childcare is more expensive than their home countries.

Even so, the report said that as Singapore is ranked second globally for the quality of children's education, the investment seems worth it.

Singaporean expats disagree

Perhaps not surprisingly, Singaporean expats seem to like it better abroad than at home.

Seven in 10 (70 percent) Singaporeans abroad say their work/ life balance is better than it was at home, compared to 53 percent of expats globally.

However, less than half (42 percent) of them say their social life is better than it was at home.

Top image via Pixabay