There has been a mini-storm of protest in the local press and UAE blogs recently. As one report put it, “The United Arab Emirates has been ranked the least friendly country in the world for expatriates, according to findings by business magazine Forbes”.

It’s actually just a report in Forbes of the latest HSBC Expat Explorer survey – full details at www.expatexplorer.hsbc.com – which polls expats for their opinions about life outside their home country. There are dozens of criteria, only one of which is ‘making local friends’.

But that’s the one all the local commentators jumped on. There’s even a Twitter hashtag, #UAEFriendly, which has been set up to allow people to vent their feelings.

Let’s keep a sense of perspective. For a start the survey was based on responses from just 294 people. And while the ‘making local friends’ factor ranked the UAE bottom of the 31 countries, overall the UAE is 11th.

So the HSBC researchers are actually pretty enthusiastic about the UAE. For instance, the country “continues to be a good location for those who enjoy the finer things in life with expats here much more likely to have access to luxuries than average ...

And “expats in the UAE are typically likely to relocate for improved career prospects ... It seems the positive outlook many have on the economy, 57% expecting this to improve over the next 12 months, is considerably higher than the global average of 39%”.

Of course expats and Emiratis should communicate and they can become friends. Interestingly, the HSBC report noted that children find integration easier than their parents – “the majority of expats report their children have settled in faster than they have (59%) and that their children are enjoying their life overseas (81%)”. If the young can do it, why can’t the rest of us?

Dennis Jarrett