Australia has for the first time been named the No. 1 destination in the world for professionals seeking to relocate internationally.

A new report from Boston Consulting Group, based on a survey of more than 150,000 professionals across 188 countries, found that Australia’s post-pandemic jobs boom had helped the country supplant Canada as the most desirable destination for expats globally.

The top 10 countries in order were Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, France and Spain.

The result marks the first time Australia has topped BCG’s rankings, having steadily climbed from seventh position in 2014.

Boston Consulting Group managing director and partner Nicole Sibillio said Australia came out on top for three key reasons.

“The first is the quality of the job opportunities, so this really includes the chance to improve one’s skills, to have interesting work and job security,” Ms Sibillio said.

“The second is quality of life, [which] is no surprise. Australia offers a fantastic climate, access to nature, and it’s an absolutely beautiful country.”

The third, she said, was the country’s welcoming culture.

The US ranked the highest for the quality of job opportunities and scored highly on innovation and digitisation, but was marked down for safety. Third-placed Canada, meanwhile, was among the top five countries for safety and ranked as the easiest country in which to become a citizen.

Ms Sibillio said another drawcard for Australia was its status as an English-speaking country. Survey respondents said being able to speak the local language was important, and English remains the most-spoken language in the world.

This was a factor in 26-year-old Jack Whitaker’s decision to swap London for Sydney last October. The marketing professional said he wanted to move overseas to experience a different culture and see the world through a different perspective.

But the Briton’s limited foreign language skills meant he only wanted to move somewhere English-speaking so that he didn’t end up “feeling isolated” and struggling to make friends.

He considered moving to the United States, but decided Australia was a better option because it offered a better “work-life balance”.

“It has a massive appeal in terms of a great climate. And also the fitness culture, particularly in Sydney, has been really great,” Mr Whitaker said.

“I’m very into sports myself, and it’s just a very healthy way of life here. So that’s something that really appealed to me as well.”

Mr Whitaker said he was financially better off in Australia, too. His salary is higher here than it was in the UK, while his costs are similar.

David Jones, senior managing director at recruitment agency Robert Half, which specialises in finance, accounting and technology roles, agreed that Australia was an attractive destination to many overseas workers.

But he said the main reason people came was for the job opportunities and higher wages. Lifestyle reasons were secondary, he said.

“Sometimes Australia does itself a disservice by saying it’s all about the quality of life,” Mr Jones said. “The reason why people want to come here is because of the job opportunities.”

Net overseas migration over the year to September 2023 added 548,800 people to Australia’s population, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Richard Holden, professor of economics at UNSW Business School, said the record migration levels had put upward pressure on house prices and rents as the construction industry could not build enough homes in the short term to keep up with the surge in demand.

But he said immigration tended to have a neutral effect on wages and inflation, as migrants added to “both the supply and demand sides of various equations”.

“Evidence from a lot of countries over a lot of years and evidence from the Reserve Bank in Australia says that migration, particularly high-skilled migration, is definitely good for the Australian economy,” Dr Holden said.

“You see that at its starkest when it’s filling skills gaps that firms are having difficulties otherwise filling.”

The BCG report also ranked the top cities in the world for professionals seeking to relocate internationally. London came out on top, followed by Amsterdam in second and Dubai in third. Australia had two cities in the top 20, with Sydney ranking 10th and Melbourne 14th.

The most mobile occupations were: engineering and technical; green jobs and sustainability; services and hospitality; educating and training; and design, art, creative professions and architecture.