By Kim Rahn
Giandomenico Volpicella, an Italian living in Seoul, finds the city safe compared to his home country.
“Whenever you walk in the city, it’s safe, and this is difficult to find in Europe,” said the 32-year-old office worker who has been in Korea since 2008.
He also noted communication in English is getting easier here. “Koreans speak English very well now and even if they don’t, they really do try to help me. I also remember the time when I went to a hospital. The service was very nice and they even had someone who spoke English to assist me,” he said.
Volpicella is one of many current foreign residents in Seoul who say the quality of their life in the capital has improved.
According to a Seoul City survey, the level of satisfaction with life here felt by expatriates showed a slight increase compared to a year before.
The survey was conducted on 2,500 foreigners last October. It was the second time that the city’s annual survey included foreign residents following the first in 2009.
They gave an average 6.78 out of 10 points for their city life satisfaction level, up slightly from 6.52 a year ago.
The categories they are most satisfied with are residential conditions, followed by safety, social environment, Seoul citizens’ openness and kindness to them, and communication.
By nationality, those from European nations and China showed greater satisfaction with the quality of their life than others.
“We believe it is because many of those from Europe hold white-collar jobs, earning more money than others and thus having better living conditions. For Chinese, we presume they think their life here is better than back in their homeland,” a city official said.
When asked how happy they are, foreign residents gave an average 7.14 points ― higher than Koreans’ 6.59. They were happy with their health conditions and relationships with family and friends.
But they were less happy with their financial status, and nearly 70 percent of foreigners said prices in Seoul are higher than those in their homelands, mainly representing Asian countries aside from Japan. People from Japan, Europe and America said prices here are lower than in their countries.
In childcare and education, foreign residents cited high education expenses as the biggest issue, especially for Asians.
Vietnamese respondents said it is difficult for the children to develop a network with local Korean students, while Japanese said they wish they could live closer to their schools.