According to the InterNations Digital Life Abroad report, the Netherlands scores pretty highly when it comes to digital life for expats, namely ninth in the world. This ranking is based on survey responses by expats.

2018 Digital Life Abroad report

In the 2018 Digital Life Abroad report (DLA), 68 countries worldwide were ranked based on their unrestricted access to online services like social media, the availability of government / administrative services online, the ease of paying without cash, getting a local mobile phone number and getting access to high-speed internet at home.

The data that informed this ranking came from over 18.000 expats, representing 178 nationalities and living in 187 countries or territories. The number of survey participants required for inclusion in the DLA was 75 and thus only 68 countries were included.

The Netherlands ranks highly

The Netherlands comes in at ninth place globally and fifth place if only European countries are considered. Expats appear to be pleased with the unrestricted access to online services like social media, ranking it 8/68. Additionally, the Netherlands does well when it comes to the availability of government and administrative services online (10th), which is no wonder seeing as you can sort pretty much everything using your DigiD.

Expanding on this further, 83 percent of respondents reported being happy with the availability of government and administrative services online. This is a great deal higher than the 55 percent globally.

According to the report, the areas in which it could improve on, although scoring higher than average, are the ease of getting a local mobile phone number (24/68) and paying without cash (20th). Despite this, 90 percent of those surveyed said it was easy to pay with something other than cash, compared to 78 percent globally. Unsurprisingly, the Netherlands’ neighbour Germany scored in the bottom 10, in 59th place, when it comes to paying without cash.

Top 10 countries for Digital Life

So, which countries came out on top? Well, European countries seemed to place highly, dominating the top five, with Estonia the best country for Digital Life worldwide. Estonia is followed by Finland, Norway, Denmark and non-European country New Zealand.

Whilst many European countries ranked highly, some placed at the lower end of the ranking, with the worst being Italy in 57th position, only 11 places from last. Germany and Greece also ranked poorly, in 53rd and 52nd position respectively. The worst country for Digital Life was Myanmar, preceded by China.

Here is the top 10:

1. Estonia
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Denmark
5. New Zealand
6. Israel
7. Canada
8. Singapore
9. The Netherlands
10. USA

For more information, please see the Digital Life Abroad report.