Malta is underperforming as a destination for women who wish to work abroad, but still manages a respectable 11th place in newly published rankings from the InterNations Expat Insider survey.

The island ranked just outside the Top 10, ahead of 47 other countries from around the world, but well below its overall rank of fifth for both male and female expat workers.

Based on a survey of more than 6,000 women around the world, the Expat Insider found that Luxembourg, Taiwan and Germany topped the chart for women working abroad, with all doing particularly well for women’s job security.

READ: Malta is (almost) the best place in the world for expats

More surprisingly, Hungary and Bahrain follow just behind in the top five, performing extremely well for job satisfaction and career opportunities for women – as opposed to the more negative perception of men working in the same countries.

However, while some of the best places for women working abroad are in Europe, so are the worst. Greece comes in last place for both expat men and women, with the state of the economy one of the main issues, while Italy and Cyprus also score very poorly for career prospects.

Across the world, almost half of the women surveyed mentioned their job or business as a reason for leaving home, lower than among their male counterparts, of which seven in 10 say the same.

Nonetheless, it is the factor most often cited by expat women, followed by 33 per cent who moved for their partner and 26 per cent who were looking for adventure.

For both men and women, Malta is considered one of the best places in the world for both career opportunities and job security, but only 22 per cent of expats say they are completely satisfied with their work-life balance, which is a significant reduction from 2015.

Malta has scored high in the Expat Insider rankings since first being included in 2015, when it placed first as an overall destination for expats, although the ranking dipped slightly to second place last year, with Taiwan taking over the top spot.

Malta featured in the top 10 for every index that factors into the overall ranking and was first in terms of settling down, getting used to the local culture and making new friends.

More than four in 10 expats say it is very easy to settle down in Malta, well over twice the global average of 16 per cent.

Unsurprisingly, three-quarters of expats give top marks to the climate and weather, and nearly half of expats in Malta say they are planning to stay forever.