What is more, although expats tend to make use of a wide range of investment products, a large proportion of wealth in longer-term investments is repatriated, the most common being in the form of property (30%), equities (22%) and bonds (11%), the survey reveals.

The third annual Expat Explorer survey, of more than 4,100 respondents living in more than 100 countries, also found that living in emerging market countries is preferable to being in either the UK or Europe from a strictly financial point of view, with Russia and the Middle East the best places for expats of an avaricious disposition.

The UK, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands rank as the “worst-performing locations in terms of overall wealth, annual salaries, disposable income and ownership of luxury items”, while Russia – where more than one-third of expatriates reportedly have incomes of more than $250,000 (£162,400, €196,770) – tops the list, followed in order by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE.

Expatriates in both Singapore and Bermuda also tend to fare better financially than those living elsewhere, with 32% and 27% of those interviewed in these countries, respectively, reporting annual income above a quarter of a million dollars.

Although savings levels among expatriates as a whole have fallen over the past year, 61% of expatriates say they are still saving more than they would if they were at home. Expats find Qatar the easiest place to put money aside for a rainy day – not that Qatar has many of those – followed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Russia.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the finances of expatriates living Eurozone countries in particular have been affected by the common currency’s recent difficulties, the report’s authors noted.

Meanwhile, the survey found that a “vast majority” of expatriates living in the UK have seen “a further deterioration” in Britain’s economic climate, to the extent that one in 10 said they were actively looking to move away.

HSBC Bank International head of customer propositions Lisa Wood said a “wealth gap” was widening between the east and west for expats, with those in emerging economies leaving their counterparts in the Eurozone behind.

“It is clear that the economic volatility that has plagued the UK and Eurozone has had a significant effect on expat finances since 2009,” Wood said.

“The report has revealed that these countries were the worst performing when looking at purely financial criteria.

“Not surprisingly, a number of expats in these [countries] are actively looking to return home.”

Expat Economics, as the HSBC Bank International report is called, is the first report to emerge from interviews conducted earlier this year. This time it surveyed around 25% more expatriates than the number interviewed in 2009, making it, HSBC said, "once again" the largest global survey of its kind.