Singapore has been named the best country for expatriates for the second year in a row, according to a new survey.

The annual poll found the country scored highly across all key indicators such as salary, quality of life and family-friendly areas.

That strong sense of personal and financial security has set Singapore apart from the rest of the world, placing it in first place on the overall league table, ahead of New Zealand and Canada. The Czech Republic and Switzerland rounded off the top five.

"More than four in five - 84 per cent (of) - expats in Singapore say they feel safer than they did at home, more than in any other country and above the expat global average of 52 per cent," the report noted.

The next highest-ranked Asia-Pacific countries/territories are Hong Kong and Taiwan, in 13th and 14th spots.

The survey found that 62 per cent of expats living here said they were earning more here than they would have in their home country, while 66 per cent felt their quality of life was better. It also noted that "62 per cent of those based (in Singapore) agree that it is a good place to progress in their careers, compared with 43 per cent globally and 42 per cent in the region."

The survey commissioned by HSBC and conducted by YouGov polled nearly 27,000 expats from 190 countries and territories in March and April, including 533 here.

It revealed that expats here earn US$139,000 (S$190,000) annually on average, significantly higher than the global average of US$97,000. Meanwhile, 60 per cent of expats in Singapore receive health and medical allowances, above the global average of 51 per cent.

Of the 533 Singapore respondents, 26 per cent were from Britain, 18 per cent from Malaysia and 12 per cent from India. The most common jobs were in finance, infotech and engineering.