The world we live in is becoming increasingly interconnected. One of the most important modern game changers here is remote work. The upsurge in remote work is irrefutable as more and more “digital nomads” settle into cafés in major cities around the globe. Additionally, many companies have arrangements that allow their employees to work from home, and self-employed people make their own accommodations for their situation, whether it be a home office, cafés or other establishments.

A host of statistics on which nationalities benefit most from remote work is already available. However, we wanted to dig deeper into this, so we looked at which countries exhibit the most interest in remote work compared to population size, regardless of how many people actually work remotely.

To do this, we reviewed Google searches in 72 countries from the fourth quarter of 2022 and included both English and local language search terms. The search terms used varied between “remote work” in general and more specific search terms such as “remote jobs” or “work from home.” Then, we compared the number of searches per month to the population size to understand where people are searching for remote work the most.

The countries most interested in remote work

The results of our analysis definitely hold a few surprises. Here are our top 10 countries most interested in remote work averaged across all relevant search terms:

Overall, Cyprus leads by a wide margin. If one considers, how many people from other countries already reside on the sunny island in the Mediterranean Sea, this is very comprehensible.
It is surprising that Latvia comes in at second place. Further analysis of the data reveals that Latvians are apparently not interested in traveling around the world with their laptops, as Latvia is by far the world leader in terms of keywords related to “work from home.” Saudi Arabia in 4th place is also a surprise, indicating that global digital trends are not bypassing the conservative desert country.

Prosperous Western European countries such as Germany, France, Spain, and the UK all land in the middle range. Apparently, remote work does not play such a large role here relative to the size of the population. It is possible that the social systems in these countries and a progressive work culture make a local office job appealing.

The countries least interested in remote work

Of the countries studied, these ten countries are least interested in remote work:

At the bottom of the ranking, some poorer countries such as Bangladesh, Algeria, and Pakistan, appear. The economic situation of these countries likely lead their citizens to prioritize other conditions for work over whether they can work remotely.

Our methodology

In this study, we looked at all the relevant keywords related to remote work and analyzed the data in relation to the population size to create this ranking. It is evident from this study that countries differ greatly in their interest in work-related topics such as remote jobs or remote work in general. However, an overall ranking such as this can provide a good assessment of the countries where remote work has become as prevalent as the population would like.

Many countries have already recognized the trend and are specifically recruiting remote workers, primarily from wealthier countries. The governments of such countries allow individuals to live and work in another country for an extended period of time. These individuals then potentially benefit from less expensive housing and living costs or from more favorable weather at their remote workspace.

Remote work — A trend that is here to stay

Our study sheds light on which countries have the highest interest in remote work. Regardless, the trend toward remote work appears to be increasing—employers around the world should be prepared for the fact that demand is growing, especially among younger generations.