Lagos is one of top 5 cities worldwide for making friends, but...

Expatriates consider Lagos State to be one of the top five cities worldwide for making friends, according to Expat City Ranking 2019 by InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with more than 3.5 million members.

The ranking is based on the annual Expat Insider survey by InterNations, which is, with more than 20,000 respondents in 2019, one of the most extensive surveys about living and working abroad.

According to the report released on Tuesday, December 3, 2019, more than three in five respondents (62%) agree that making friends in Lagos is easy (vs. 45% globally), and an equal share (62%) is also happy with their social life (vs. 55% globally).

"It might help that the people in Lagos are generally perceived as friendly (70% vs. 64% globally), and that it is easy to live in the city without speaking the local language (81% happy vs. 47% globally)," the report said.

Despite its friendly nature, Lagos ranks among the worst cities in the world for expats, with Nigeria's commercial capital finishing in 79th place in the Expat City Ranking 2019, only better than Milan (80th), Rome (81st), and Kuwait City (82nd).

Three other African cities finished ahead of Lagos in the Expat City Ranking 2019 [InterNations] Pulse Nigeria

For the 2019 survey, 82 cities around the globe were analyzed for in-depth information about five areas of expat life: Quality of Urban Living, Getting Settled, Urban Work Life, Finance and Housing, and Local Cost of Living.

Respondents voted Lagos as the worst in the Quality of Urban Living Index with expats especially unhappy with the local transportation (75% negative ratings vs. 19% globally), the political stability (55% vs. 17% globally), and their personal safety (38% vs. 9% globally).

The report read, "The availability of healthcare is another weak area (60% unhappy vs. 13% globally), and the same is true for the quality of the environment (55% vs. 17% globally).

"While not ranking last in the world, Lagos is also still one of the worst cities in the Urban Work Life Index (75th).

"More than half the expats (54%) rate the state of the local economy negatively (vs. 15% globally), and 37% are unhappy with the local career prospects (vs. 27% globally)."

Aside from the local climate and weather (40th), Lagos can be found among the bottom 10 for each factor within the index.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu was sworn in as Lagos governor in May 2019, and has struggled to quickly get to grips with infrastructure demands in the first few months in office [Today NG] Pulse Nigeria

"There is no safety, and no proper public transport is available," a Russian expat complained.

Expats ranked Lagos the worst city in the world for local transportation, as well as for health and environment, and finished second worst in the Safety and Politics subcategory.

A German expat criticised the insecurity, both political and personal, in Lagos.

"You aren't able to just walk around here," she said.

Taiwanese capital, Taipei, was voted the best city to live in as an expat in the world, followed by Kuala Lumpur, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nairobi (Kenya), Johannesburg (South Africa), and Cape Town (South Africa) are the only other African cities on the list, and all finished above Lagos in 45th, 59th and 65th position respectively.