Friday 9 June 2017

See Why Healthcare System of Spain Ranks in Top 10 Worldwide


See Why Healthcare System of Spain Ranks in Top 10 Worldwide


The Spanish healthcare system continues to be world class
A new study from the Healthcare Access and Quality Index (HAQ) shows that Spain is home to the eighth-best healthcare system in theworld. The study was published last week in the British medical journal The Lancet.

The study looked at the healthcare provisions available in 195 countries, measuring several factors related to mortality rates related to issues that shouldn’t be fatal if the patient is provided with proper medical care.

This included analysis of the death rates of 32 recognised illnesses and conditions between 1990 and 2015; along with records of any worldwide improvements.

The good news is that the healthcare systems of practically every country improved over time. There were only a few nations – particularly those where civil war has broken out – that saw a drop in standards.

Spain scored a total of 90 points out of 100, which put it in eighth place globally. Spain was ahead of Italy (89), France (88), Greece (87), Germany (86), the UK (85), and Portugal (85).

The country that took the number one spot was Andorra, which scored a total of 95 points. Iceland came in second with 94 points. Switzerland came in third with 92 points, while Sweden and Norway rounded out the top five countries.

13 of the top 15 countries were from western Europe. The only countries to break this monopoly were Australia in sixth, and Japan, which came in 11th.

A rather sad statistic is that the average score for all 195 countries was the paltry score of 53.7 points. This number is still an improvement on the 40.7 points seen in 1990, but it is a sign that many countries out there still have an inadequate level of healthcare.

Even though 167 countries out of 195 have improved their healthcare performance, the gap between those that have and haven’t is getting wider. The difference between the top and the bottom country in 1990 was 62 points, while it’s 66 points today.

Spain earned the top score of 100 points for the treatment of diphtheria, tetanus and measles, along with 99 points for maternity and respiration treatment. Spain has plenty of room to improve in treating Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which it scored 64 points for, Leukemia, which it scored 66 points for, and gallbladder disease, which it scored 74 points for.

Thursday 8 June 2017

Spain Records 30% Property Sales Increase in March

Spain Records 30% Property Sales Increase in March


In the past 12 months over 400,000 Spanish homes have tradedhands; 15% more than in the prior 12 months.

The recovery continues which is wonderful for the whole of
spain
The latest data from the Institute of National Statistics (INE) released last week show that March has seen an increase of 30% in transactions year-on-year.

According to the data from the INE, the 40,461 homes changing hands during March in Spain was the highest monthly figured reported since 2011. It would have been the highest since the credit crunch bit in 2008, except the government boosted 2011 sales with a tax break.

2017 has been a record-breaking post-recession year for property transactions so far, with January and February posting sales data that resembles something from before the housing bubble burst.

Putting it all together, some 114,528 Spanish properties were bought and sold in the first three months of 2017; around 15% more than during the first three months of 2016. Extrapolating it across 12 months shows that property sales will reach 419,000 – an increase of 15% over the previous 12 month period.

16 of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain reported increasesin property sales. The only area where sales contracted was the Canary Islands, where sales were down 3.5% compared to last March.

The largest increases were reported in La Rioja, Cantabria, and Asturias; all of which reported growth of over 40%.

Analysing the data from the INE further shows that 110 property transactions occurred for every 100,000 people considered to be of home-buying age. This came up to 150 and 148/100,000 people in Valencia and the Balearics respectively.

Wednesday 7 June 2017

Poll Finds 70% Of British Expats Unlikely to Return Home

Poll Finds 70% Of British Expats Unlikely to Return Home


With the wonderful sunshine and Mediterranean lifestyle
its no wonder why no one wants to go back to the cold of
northern europe
The decision to become an expat is not something one takes lightly. It can be stressful to uproot your entire life. If you plan carefully however, then you’ll likely have a positive experience. Things are so good for expats, in fact, that a recent poll of British expats suggested that 69% of them had no intention of ever returning home.

The survey was conducted by the financial services organisation deVere Groups. It found that many British expats are very happy with their current lives as only 10% said that they would consider moving back home to the UK, with only 21% answering “maybe” they would go back.

One of the main reasons that Brits move abroad is to findwork, with just under a quarter of those polled saying they moved for their jobs.

The survey looked at around 1,000 Brits living abroad in countries such as Spain, Australia, the UAE, and South Africa. It shined a light on the main motivating factors behind Brits moving abroad, what the expat life is like, and their long-term plans.

One thing of note was the discovery that 72% of Brits still send some money back the UK regularly, either adding to their savings account or supporting their family members. Of the people polled, 87% of respondents said that they had an easier time saving money after moving, while the majority added that they had a better quality of life compared to life at home.

The CEO of deVere Group Nigel Green says that more Brits than ever are living outside of the UK. There are now officially 5 million Brits living overseas, but it’s believed that the real number is higher as many expats don’t take the time to register themselves with the authorities of their new countries.

Green added that if one were to extrapolate the data from the poll and put it against the number of official British expats, it would mean that around 3.5 million Brits living outside of the UK had no desire to ever come home.

Green said the survey shows that many people considering a move abroad can expect to have a fulfilling and rewarding experience. There are a number of reasons for this, including better career opportunities, a lower cost of living, a higher quality of life, top-notch education and childcare, lower crime levels, and great weather.

Even though many expats currently believe that they will stay outside of the UK – and precious few studies have been conducted on the return rate of long-term expats – there is evidence that suggests more than the 70% of expats indicated in the survey will come home to the UK one day. ManyBritish retirees living in Spain will usually return to the UK when they near the end of their lives, in order to spend time with their family.

Tuesday 6 June 2017

Strength of Spanish Economy Shown by Increase in Car Sales and Decrease in Illegal Downloads


Strength of Spanish Economy Shown by Increase in Car Sales and Decrease in Illegal Downloads





There was a time during the credit crunch of 2008-2012 that living in Spain was the hotbed of illegal downloads in Europe. From music and films to unlicensed software, Spaniards who found themselves strapped for cash would use internet services to get their hands on the content they couldn’t afford or just didn’t want to pay for.

Spain wasn’t the only country this trend hit, but it certainly became the leader. Things have changed now, however. As the Spanish economy has picked up, and there are affordable streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix opening their doors, the amount of illegal content downloaded in Spain has tanked.

A survey of over 4,000 Spanish internet users from consultancy firm Gfk shows that piracy has hit a ten-year low in the country. Around half of the people surveyed admitted to still illegally downloading content, saying that they feel they can get anything they want online for free because they pay for their internet connection.

A similar amount of people did say that they would pay for the content if it was cheaper.

The survey suggested that content piracy accounted for around €1.8 billion in lost earnings during 2016. If all the content that was illegally downloaded was paid for legally, then it would have supported 21,000 jobs in Spain alone according to the consultancy firm.

An area of the Spanish economy that is certainly generating jobs is the automotive industry, which kicked off the year to a great start with 7.9% more cars sold in Spain for the first quarter of 2017, compared to the first quarter of 2016.

Car sales – much like property sales – are an accurate sign of how the economy is performing. An increase in sales for cars or homes is always a cause for celebration.

The Spanish Association of Automobiles and Trucks (ANFAC) calculated some 307,911 cars were sold during the first quarter of 2017 in Spain. Malaga topped the charts in Andalucía, with 10,270 new cars sold, followed by Seville with 9,778 cars sold.

Monday 5 June 2017

Data Shows Spanish Property Growth Fuelled by Foreign and Domestic Buyers

Data Shows Spanish Property Growth Fuelled by Foreign and Domestic Buyers


The future looks bright as more and more confidence in buying returns
The Notaries Association of Spain recently published the property sales figures for March, showing an increase of 19.5% in transactions for the month compared to March of 2016.

If this increase wasn’t enough encouragement, the data shows the interest from domestic and foreign buyers is becoming better balanced.

Domestic buyers – who still remained the bulk of the market thanks to their numbers – fell out of love with the property market during the recession. The property market was kept in good health thanks to an increase of demand from British, German, Russian, and Scandinavian buyers.

2017 brought with it a stronger Spanish economy, which increased the confidence many Spaniards have in their financial security, driving up the amount of property and car purchases.

Spain remains a country of contrasts and not every market in every region is seeing the same performance. The new build home sector is still lagging behind, while sales of apartments are up 20.5% and family homes are up 15.6%.

The data from the notaries also revealed the average sellingprice of properties reached 2004 levels. They aren’t quite at the height of their peak, but they are still higher than they have been for some time.

An interesting finding by the Land Registry, which ranks sales based on the number of homes inscribed on the land register and not in terms of actual sales, showed that March saw an increase in transactions of 30% compared to March of last year.