Travelers love to talk about whether a place feels warm, cool, easygoing, or closed off, but those impressions are usually anecdotal. One of the better large-scale snapshots comes from InterNations’ 2025 Expat Insider survey, which gathered responses from 10,085 expats representing 172 nationalities and ranked 46 destinations on factors such as local friendliness, culture and welcome, and how easy it is to make local friends.

It did not survey short-stay vacationers specifically, so this is best read as a guide to how foreign residents feel received rather than a literal referendum on tourists. InterNations’ methodology makes that distinction clear.

That distinction matters, but the findings are still useful. A country where newcomers consistently say they feel welcome, at home, and able to build local friendships will often give off a friendlier first impression than one where outsiders struggle to connect. With that in mind, here are seven places that came out looking especially open to newcomers, followed by three where the social temperature appears noticeably cooler.

1. Mexico

Mexico sits at the top of the 2025 Ease of Settling In Index, and the numbers help explain why. InterNations says it ranks 1st for Culture & Welcome, 2nd for Finding Friends, and 3rd for Local Friendliness. Its dedicated country profile also says expats there were far more likely than the global average to feel at home, feel welcome, and find it easy to make local friends.

That combination is hard to fake. Plenty of places can be polite at check-in, but Mexico’s results suggest something deeper, a social environment where outsiders often move beyond surface-level courtesy. The broader 2025 ranking notes that 35% of respondents say their friends and acquaintances are mostly locals, which points to a country where foreign arrivals are not always kept at arm’s length.

2. Panama

Panama placed 2nd in the Ease of Settling In Index, and it appears to shine most on the social side of daily life. InterNations says the country ranks 1st for Finding Friends, while more than four in five expats report being happy with their social life there. The survey’s Panama profile also says expats find it especially easy to make local friends and are very likely to describe locals as friendly toward foreign residents.

That matters because friendliness feels more convincing when it shows up outside overtly touristy settings. Panama’s broader 2025 results were strong across the board, with the country ranking 1st overall and 94% of expats saying they were happy with life abroad there. A place does not produce numbers like that on scenery alone.

3. Colombia

Colombia took 3rd place in the Ease of Settling In Index, and its social scores are especially striking. InterNations says it ranks 1st for having a personal support network, with nearly four in five expats saying they have people around them for practical or emotional support. Its country page also says Colombian locals are widely seen as friendly in general and toward foreigners.

Even more telling, 51% of respondents said their friends were mostly locals, while only 8% said they moved mainly in expat circles. That suggests real integration rather than pleasant small talk. Colombia also rose to 2nd place in the overall ranking, helped by strong scores for personal finances and settling in. The caveat is that warmth does not erase every other concern, since safety still appeared as a meaningful drawback in the wider survey results.

4. Indonesia

Indonesia placed 4th in the 2025 Ease of Settling In Index, and InterNations grouped it with the destinations that perform especially well on local friendliness. In fact, among the Asian countries in the top tier, Indonesia posted the strongest Local Friendliness result. That is a strong sign that newcomers often feel socially comfortable there, and the country’s 2025 profile reinforces that broader impression.

The picture is not flawless, which makes the welcome score more believable. InterNations says Indonesia also performs well on basics such as affordable and available housing, yet weaker digital services drag on the broader expat experience. In other words, the systems may not always charm you, but the people often do. You can also see that balance in the wider Expat Essentials results.

5. The Philippines

The Philippines ranked 5th for Ease of Settling In, and it was one of the Asian countries singled out for especially strong local friendliness. InterNations says the Philippines belongs to a group of destinations where friendly day-to-day interactions appear to come naturally, and its country profile explicitly highlights friendly locals as one of the country’s standout strengths.

That makes it one of the clearest fits for a list about feeling received rather than merely tolerated. The country’s broader 2025 profile also pairs that social warmth with low costs, which helps explain why some expats seem to settle into the rhythm there relatively quickly. That does not mean every foreign resident or traveler will click instantly. It does suggest a noticeable pattern.

6. Brazil

Brazil came in 6th on the 2025 Ease of Settling In Index, which keeps it firmly among the destinations where outsiders report a positive social landing. InterNations says Brazil joins Mexico, Panama, and Colombia in a Latin American cluster that performs extremely well across the welcome-related measures. The country’s 2025 profile keeps the people-facing case simple: friendly locals remain one of Brazil’s biggest strengths.

That broader pattern matters. InterNations’ Brazil results are literally framed around “friendly locals,” even while the survey notes safety concerns elsewhere in the expat experience. So the message is not that Brazil is simple. It is that many newcomers still feel the social side of life there is unusually open.

7. Oman

Oman rounds out the welcoming seven by taking 7th place in the 2025 Ease of Settling In Index. InterNations says the country scores especially well in Culture & Welcome, and in the top-10 trend summary it notes that locals in Oman are rated friendlier than those in Cyprus, the only other new entrant into that year’s top 10. That is a meaningful detail because both countries moved up, but Oman did so with stronger people-facing scores. The dedicated Oman profile makes the same general point.

There is another practical advantage here as well. In the 2025 Expat Essentials findings, InterNations says Oman is one of the places where expats find it especially easy to live without speaking Arabic. That suggests the welcome is not only emotional. Daily life can also feel easier to navigate without an immediate sense of being shut out.

8. Kuwait

Now for the colder side of the ranking. Kuwait placed last, 46th out of 46, in the 2025 Ease of Settling In Index, and InterNations says it also came dead last in both Culture & Welcome and Local Friendliness. The country’s 2025 profile makes it even blunter, calling Kuwait no stranger to last place.

The underlying numbers are rough. Around 44% of expats said they did not feel at home there, compared with 23% globally, while 37% said they did not feel welcome, versus 18% worldwide. That does not mean every visitor or newcomer will have a bad experience. It does suggest that many outsiders experience Kuwait as a place where social ease does not come quickly. The broader Quality of Life results were not much kinder either.

9. Norway

Norway ranked 45th, putting it just one spot above Kuwait in the 2025 Ease of Settling In Index. InterNations says it has been in the bottom 10 for six straight years, which makes the result look persistent rather than accidental. The index page describes the biggest hurdle as getting used to Norwegian culture.

The figures back that up. Forty-six percent of respondents said adapting to the culture was difficult, more than double the global average of 22%, and only 17% said it was easy to make local friends, compared with 38% globally. More than two in five expats in Norway also described locals as generally unfriendly. This does not necessarily read as hostility. It looks more like reserve, distance, and a social wall that can take time to get through. The wider survey report points in the same direction.

10. Finland

Finland ranked 44th in Ease of Settling In, which puts it firmly in the survey’s cooler group. InterNations says the country dropped into the bottom 10 in 2024 and had not climbed back out in 2025. The country profile makes clear this was not a one-off mood swing.

What seems to hurt most is the social side. Expats ranked Finland 44th for feeling welcome and 43rd for feeling at home, while 48% said they were unhappy with their social life and 68% said making local friends was difficult. That does not sound like open hostility. It sounds more like reserve, distance, and a steeper climb toward real connection. The bigger settling-in results back up the same picture.

What makes this ranking interesting is not that some countries are cheerful and others cold. It is that the differences show up consistently when foreign residents talk about daily life, not just one perfect vacation week. Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, and Oman all come across as places where newcomers often feel more quickly absorbed into the social fabric. Kuwait, Norway, and Finland, by contrast, look like places where building that same comfort can take much more work.

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