The top 10 countries where expats get the highest salaries

In HSBC's annual Expat Explorer, Singapore topped the ranking as best place to live and work for a fourth straight year, beating New Zealand, Germany and Canada.

Expats in the UAE earn an average income of Dhs570,000 a year, according to a new survey. However, it brings with it, its own share of high living costs.

In terms of career, 45% of all expats in Singapore (compared to a global average of 35%) said they initially made the move to Singapore for a career opportunity. Apart from that, nearly half (45%) stated moving to Singapore has enabled them to begin saving to buy a property (global average: 33%), while 59% said it has enabled them to begin saving for retirement (global average: 37%).

The only area where Singapore scored poorly was work-life balance-29% say their work-life balance is worse in Singapore than it was at home.

According to the 2018 survey, a working life in Hong Kong comes with added stress levels for 57% expats.

The high living costs sometimes dampen the expat's spirit wherein two out of four can not afford to buy property in Singapore and prefer to use the same cash to purchase a house in their home country.

It was not all the lure of money though - more than a quarter who relocated to Singapore said they simply wanted a challenge. At the same time expenses such as children's education are also higher than back home.

The average income of an expat in Singapore is SGD 221,522.

But the highest expat salaries are found elsewhere - in Switzerland, the U.S. and Hong Kong - according to HSBC's latest annual Expat Explorer report.

On that last point, half of the expats in Singapore said they could not afford to buy a property here, with most choosing to buy in their home country.

Shedding light on why many expats love moving to Singapore, the report noted that the Little Red Dot provided the full package - work, finances, and lifestyle. Moreover, 32 percent of the expats have moved from the Far East region to this relatively small territory that boasts about sophisticated infrastructure and the third rank in the world for its economics.