TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan was ranked by expats as the No. 1 country in the world to "work, make friends, and raise a family" this year based on a survey by InterNations.

Business Insider on Saturday released a list based on surveys of expats titled "The top 30 countries in the world to work, make friends, and raise a family in 2019." Taiwan took the top spot this year ahead of Vietnam, Portugal, Mexico, and Spain, with Singapore, Bahrain, Ecuador, Malaysia, and the Czech Republic, rounding out the top ten.

The list was generated by a survey by InterNations which asked 20,000 expats living in 187 countries and regions to rate various aspects of their lives while living abroad. Factors that were taken into consideration were the cost of living, quality of medical care, and ease of making local friends.

The responses to these questions were then weighted to generate a list of the top 30 countries. There were a minimum of 40 respondents for each country.

In its entry for Taiwan, Business Insider wrote that expats spoke most highly of Taiwan's "quality of life, affordability and quality of healthcare, safety, and career prospects." The report also pointed out the fact that Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in May.

However, one challenge mentioned by 52 percent of respondents was learning to speak Mandarin.