A new survey found that Sweden is the best country to raise children in. The European country offers better quality of life, health, and wellbeing to plenty of expat families.
Expat families (those that are temporarily or permanently living in a country outside of their citizenship) will thrive in Sweden, according to HSBC's 2016 Expat Explorer survey. Sweden has been holding the position for two years now.
Three-quarters of expat parents revealed improvement in their child's quality of life after moving to Sweden, the Telegraph reported. Parents who moved their families to Sweden claimed that the nation offers better quality of early years care than their homeland.
Sweden boasts the most generous childcare benefits in the world. Parents enjoy public childcare that operates on a whole day basis, with childcare facilities available from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Pre-school is free for kids aged between 3 and 6 for up to 15 hours every week, according to the European Union's website, EUROPA. Parental fees, meanwhile, are proportionate to the income of parents and to how many children they have in the family.
Due to these childcare benefits, 55 percent of children below 3 years old and 96 percent of kids between 3 and 6 are enrolled in formal childcare. These percentages go beyond the targets of EU Barcelona for childcare provision. The EU has 27 percent and 82 percent averages for those figures, respectively.
Seven in 10 parents with families living in Sweden claimed that their child's health and wellbeing improved even though the country has long, cold winters and short daylight hours. The quality of education in the Scandinavian nation is also superior. Other countries with impressive education quality are Singapore, Russia, and the Czech Republic.
Aside from these figures, Sweden has the largest proportion of working mothers (73.1 percent in 2014) in the EU. There are flexible working arrangements for these women, and they work on an average of five hours per week.
Sweden also has generous and flexible leave schemes for working parents, EUROPA further reported. These leave schemes encourage both parents to spend time with their kids. Mothers and fathers each have eight months of paid leave per child.
Despite Sweden's great standing as the best country to raise children in, Singapore still topped HSBC's annual list as the best destination for expats. The Asian country was followed by New Zealand, Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Austria, Bahrain, and Germany.
