外国专业女性 首选移居我国

新加坡是外国女性的首选移居地点，接受调查的外国专业女性一致表示，会介绍他人迁移本地工作。

这主要是因为她们认为我国犯罪率低、有税务优惠、生活优雅以及本区域有许多个人发展的机会。

这项名为“2011年环球专业人士流动性报告”的调查由环球专才招聘公司Hydrogen Group委任ESCP Europe商学院一个咨询小组进行。有2637名来自85个国家，并拥有至少学士文凭的专业人士接受调查。

Hydrogen亚洲区主管Abigail Waudby指出：“新加坡有很强的文化包容性，新来的外国雇员也受到热烈欢迎。我们的女受访者反映，生活方式以及能多快适应环境，对她们来说，重要性不亚于薪金获得提高。”

在总体排名方面，新加坡与加拿大同列第5大最受男女专业人士欢迎的移居地点。榜首是美国，下来依次是英国、澳大利亚和瑞士（Switzerland）。

International Child Abduction Bill passed

CHILDREN taken out of Singapore without the permission of the parent who has custody will receive global help to return home safely.

This follows Parliament agreeing yesterday to ratify the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

The move makes Singapore one of 83 states to agree to track down and return a child who has been forcefully brought past its borders.

This will ensure that estranged spouses will have their custody disputes decided by the courts in the rightful country, rather than becoming embroiled in protracted and expensive cross-border lawsuits.

Singapore Second-best place for expats to raise kids

Some 56 per cent of expat parents said their children are more socially integrated here than they were in their home countries, according to the world's largest survey of expats, Expat Explorer.

Not only did 71 per cent say their kids adapted "really well" to the education system here (compared to the global average of 49 per cent), 65 per cent said their children found it easy to make new friends (global average 50 per cent).

Expat kids fit in easiest in Australia. In contrast, expat kids in the United Kingdom and United States struggled the hardest to make friends and integrate.

These were the findings of the second annual survey issued by HSBC Bank International, which polled over 3,100 expats from more than 50 countries.

Overall, Singapore was ranked next best, behind Australia, for expats to raise a family. Nine in 10 expat parents living here felt they had moved to a safer, more childcare-friendly place for their youngsters.

Three in four said education standards were better than in their home country (global average 56 per cent), while 70 per cent felt childcare had improved since moving here (global average 50 per cent).

But the Republic was also rated one of the most expensive place to raise a child - 60 per cent said they now spend more on childcare.

As for providing an environment to raise healthy kids, expat children in Singapore ate the least junk food, according to the survey. But over a third tended to spend less time outdoors and playing sports after moving here.

Overall, the UK was indicated as the worst country for childcare and education.

Singapore is top immigration hot spot

Gallup index shows Singapore population would jump to 13 million if it takes in all who wished to come here.

Gallup uses the Potential Net Migration Index (PMNI) to derive Singapore's ranking. The PNMI is the estimated number of adults who wish to leave a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who wish to immigrate to the country, as a proportion of the total adult population.

Singapore is No. 1 immigration hot spot, coming ahead of countries like New Zealand and Australia.

According to the United Nations' 2009 Human Development Report, Singapore is ranked No. 10 in the world in terms of the share of immigrants as part of total population, at 35%. The UN report also showed that Singapore had a relatively low emigration rate of 6.3%.