Flatio asked questions to find out where digital nomads pay taxes, what they think of visas for digital nomads, whether they consider the social impact of their lifestyle and how much they spend on accommodation.

According to a new study by Flatio, a digital platform for monthly rentals, Portugal is at the top of the list, being the preferred destination by 27.1% of 1200 digital nomads surveyed by the platform to live and work. This comes following the launch of the digital nomad visa last year. Sunshine was the second biggest factor that determined the next destination of a digital nomad, which is perhaps why Ericeira, Lagos, Lisbon and Porto are the main centers of digital nomads in Europe.

Additionally, more than half of the participants in the study have already applied for a visa or have already taken advantage of it, as they believe that these visas are beneficial. In fact, more than 60% believe that the Portuguese visa for digital nomads will benefit them significantly.

In addition to mainland Portugal, the island of Madeira is highlighted, appearing in seventh place, being preferred by 3.9% of digital nomads.

The top ten favourite destinations for digital nomads are: Portugal (27.1%), followed by Thailand (12.2%), Spain (8.6%), Argentina (8.2%), Mexico (8.1%), Indonesia (7.6%), Madeira (part of Portugal) (3.9%), Germany (3.5%), Romania (2.8%) and Malaysia (2.1%).

Post Pandemic

"We wanted to look at the state of digital nomadism post-pandemic to see what exactly is going on. What we're seeing are some really interesting results that would probably surprise a lot of people. Digital nomads are often used as scapegoats as rents rise across Europe, especially in places like Lisbon, but they are not to blame for housing problems there or other parts of Europe," says Radim Razek, co-founder of Flatio.

"Looking at the results, we now know that almost half of digital nomads don't want to spend more than 800 euros a month on accommodation, for example. They also identified cost as the number one determining factor in deciding their next destination. In addition, more than four out of five nomads said they take into account the social impact of the place where they are housed. Thus, digital nomads are clearly educated and cost-conscious travellers, who have a great positive impact on the places they visit, both from an economic point of view and also bring new skills, ideas and businesses," adds Radim Razek.

Demography

The study revealed that the majority of digital nomads are from the United States of America (37.4%), followed by the United Kingdom (12.3%) and Germany (5.6%).

More than half (52.6%) are between 30 and 39 years old, three-quarters are between 18 and 39 years old (75%) and almost one in five (19.7%) is between 40 and 49 years old. Interestingly, more than one in three (31.5%) are full-time employees as the trend to work anywhere increases in the wake of the pandemic.

Credits: envato elements;

Work

Since the work of a digital nomad is characterised by being carried out digitally, the majority of participants in the survey conducted by Flatio work in the areas of IT & Technology (19.3%), followed by marketing, public relations, advertising and communication (19.3%), technology and entrepreneurship and business (17.2%). While the most comprehensive type of employment is freelancing (35%).

Accommodation

Flatio found that more than half (43.4%) of digital nomads prefer to be alone in private apartments (34.7%) or hotels (33.8%). Almost a third (29.1%) stay in each destination between 1 to 2 months and just over a quarter (26%) between 3 to 4 months – medium-term rental that has been the focus of the Flatio platform since its inception in 2016. Interestingly, and contrary to stereotypes, more than 9 in 20 (25.4%) digital nomads spend less than 700 euros per month on accommodation and less than 1 in 10 (9.1%) spends more than 1,400 euros.