# Multicountry Residents: How Many Countries Lived in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 8, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663 "2017-01-08T21:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/1 "2017-01-08T21:23:55Z")
I imagine the vast majority of Dopers, like most other people, have lived in only the country of their birth. I’m curious how many here have lived in two or more and how many that would be. Lived in, not visited or just had an extended stay. I mean set up housekeeping with all that it implies – bank accounts, driver’s licenses, phone-book notations, whatever. Poll to follow. For me, it’s two – the US and Thailand. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/2 "2017-01-08T21:25:43Z")
Three: born in Australia, lived in England for 7 years, and lived in the US for 12 years. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/3 "2017-01-08T21:38:13Z")
For more than a year, USA, Canada, Jordan, Chile. For less than a year, but open-ended, setting up house with no departure plans in mind, Indonesia, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, Romania. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/4 "2017-01-08T21:51:51Z")
Eh… my Spanish license is valid until expiration date in a surprising number of countries, and there have been some where either it didn’t make sense to set up a bank account or I wasn’t allowed to. Counting stays long enough to get a long-term rental, and I think I’m not missing any: Spain (base country), the US (three long-term stays, two of them without a preset return date), the UK (twice), Germany (twice), France (three times), Costa Rica. There was also that three-week trip to Italy which turned into 8 1/2, and that project in Latin American which had me bouncing between two different Mexican locations for two months (bracketed by stays in Brazil and Texas, back to Mexico, for more than 160 days away from my Philly apartment, and was that a bitch for expenses), but those were hotel stays. ETA: I was missing one. Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/5 "2017-01-08T22:36:19Z")
US, Cayman, Colombia, Malta, and St Vincent & Grenadines ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/6 "2017-01-08T23:40:25Z")
United States from age 1 to age 6, and again from age 26 to age 28. The rest of my 42 years have been in Israel. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/7 "2017-01-09T00:04:33Z")
US, Japan and Taiwan. I’ve now spent as long outside of the States as I did there. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/8 "2017-01-09T00:16:06Z")
Two: Canada and the United States. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/9 "2017-01-09T00:49:12Z")
Lived in the United States, Brazil and Baghdad. With extended stays, several months, in Bahrain and Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/10 "2017-01-09T01:10:43Z")
US (born there, lived 36 years in all), New Zealand (3 years), Panama (26 years). ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/11 "2017-01-09T01:56:22Z")
I’ve mostly lived in the US, but spent a year and a half in Singapore. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/12 "2017-01-09T04:04:47Z")
Thanks to the hubs working in the oil industry, we’ve lived in Cameroon (2 years), Scotland (3 years), and would have been due for a rotation to the Ukraine had my husband not passed away a few months prior to our leaving. We were both originally from the US. Do international work rotations count? We retained US citizenship and were considered guest workers in the host countries. I didn’t include any of the 6 month rotations, but I thought the multi-year might qualify under the OP. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/13 "2017-01-09T04:20:42Z")
Taiwan (3 years), Hong Kong (5 years), China (12 years), Japan (2.5 years) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/14 "2017-01-09T05:33:06Z")
Pakistan born and bred and reside. The UK twice ( once as an 6 year old and in my 20’s) S Arabia. Multiple several month stay with no firm departure dates in US, Singapore, Switzerland. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/15 "2017-01-09T10:04:02Z")
Belgium Canada (London, Ontario) England (London, London :D). ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/16 "2017-01-09T11:01:45Z")
If six months counts as “lived in” I have three (US, Netherlands, UK). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/17 "2017-01-09T11:27:30Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Belgium > Canada (London, Ontario) > England (London, London :D). Pity nobody thought of building a nice development called London, Belgium 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/18 "2017-01-09T11:36:06Z")
Four: Born in the Netherlands Lived in Germany twice (Mannheim) Lived in the US twice (Washington DC) Living in the UK now ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/19 "2017-01-09T12:26:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I imagine the vast majority of Dopers, like most other people, have lived in only the country of their birth. I wonder about that assumption. After all, right now about 10 - 30% of most western countries’ population weren’t born there, and that number explicitly excludes people who are in their home countries right now but weren’t 2, 5, 10 or 20 years ago. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if, on a board like this - where folks skew educated, older, and middle class - you might get as many as 30 or 40 percent who’ve lived O/S at some point in their lives. Anyway, my answer’s “2”, but if Scotland ever secedes I plan to stretch a point and pretend it’s three 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663/20 "2017-01-09T13:51:17Z")
I exceeded the parameters a bit because, well, banking is so international that I’ve never, ever had a need to open a local account, except in China because my company required a Chinese account to deposit benefits to (although my salary proper continued to be deposited into my US account). [ul] [li]The United States, as a native. I’m a Michigander.[/li][li]I lived in Germany, stationed there as a soldier. I was single and so lived on post, but my daily life was there and pretty much everything I did off duty was “on the economy,” as we said. I lived in Germany. Two years.[/li][li]Mexico, for work all three times. One year (hotel stay), then another year (rental house), then 1.5 years (rental apartment). The first one might be “iffy” (hotel stay) but at the point you’re speaking the language, paying electricity bills, and hiring domestic help, I think it’s fair to say you live there despite not having a local bank account.[/li][li]Canada, one year, which is completely unremarkable because Ontario is pretty much like Michigan.[/li][li]China, five years, less the time spent in India and Thailand for medium-length assignments.[/li] [/ul] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multicountry-residents-how-many-countries-lived-in/776663.md?page=2)