As if having the Bledisloe wasn't enough, New Zealand is now vastly more popular than Australia in the eyes of expats, according to a new poll.
The survey comes from the yearly International Expat Insider Poll, a network of 2.8 million expats. It asked respondents from 188 different nations about their experiences in their new country and ranked them by how positively people responded.
Our trans-Tasman neighbours slipped from 7th to 34th, the biggest fall by any country.
New Zealand, by contrast, fell only one place, from 5th to 6th, retaining our top ten rank.
The Aussies were predictably defiant in defeat, with the Brisbane Times cheekily commenting that the survey "could be a front for the New Zealand immigration marketing department, cheating like an All Black breakaway".
The top spot was claimed by surprise contender, Bahrain. The gulf state was seen by one expat as "a beautiful melting pot of cultures", with strong job prospects and friendliness towards English speakers.
The survey is comprised of multiple sections, ranging from job security to affordability of childcare, which is averaged into an overall ranking.
New Zealand performed extremely well in the availability of work index, claiming the second spot, whereas Australia trailed behind in place 34.
New Zealand also rates highly on the 'friendliness' ranking, with "half the respondents giving the general friendliness of the local population the best possible rating".
Other big losers this year are the UK and the US, slipping 21 and 17 places in the rankings respectively.
Top choices for expats:
1.Bahrain
2.Costa Rica
3. Mexico
4. Taiwan
5. Portugal
6. New Zealand
7. Malta
8. Colombia
9. Singapore
10. Spain
11. Czech Republic
12.Vietnam
13. Netherlands
14.Luxemborg
15. Malaysia
16. Canada
17. Oman
18. Thailand
19. Romania
20. Norway
21. Finland
22. Sweden
23. Germany
24. Cambodia
25. Ecuador
26. UAE
27. Switzerland
28. Austria
29. Philippines
30. Denmark
31. South Korea
32. Belgium
33. Cyprus
34. Australia
35. Kazakhstan
36. Panama
37 . Kenya
38. France
39. Hong Kong
40. Japan
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