Luanda - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
This is a tricky one for us to judge right now. When we arrived here there was a large expat community mainly spread across the various embassies and oil companies. Morale was good and there was an active social scene. Covid has obviously changed that and it's hard to know if/when that will return. - May 2021
Very small with the oil crash. Overall morale is good, many have house parties and events. - Jun 2019
The relative size is medium, though it's decreased significantly due to the economic crisis. All of the Europeans, Brazilians and Latinos are happy here. Not a ton of Americans but everyone seems to enjoy this post except for some of the more insular Americans. Some Portuguese people have not gotten over their colonial mindset. - Mar 2017
The expat community is scattered into separate compounds. There really is not a community outside your corporate or government one, and even that is rather loose. - Apr 2016
We are by far the biggest embassy so there are a handful of other diplomats and of course the oil people. Some people are happy, some aren't. You have to make a concerted effort to drive to the beaches, to go out to eat, to get out of the country regularly. If you make the effort you will probably have a much better experience overall. - Mar 2015
The expat community is medium sized and fairly tight knit. You have the Diplomatic community and the oil company expats. If you get lucky, the oil co. expats invite you to their compounds and to use their company boats. But this is a post where you have to make the best of it. You really need to get out every three months to preserve your insanity. The environment can be daunting - Aug 2014
It is a relatively small community. The diplomats tend to live downtown, and the American Embassy is the largest by far. We have some social contacts with the European embassies, which is very nice. We have very little contact with the oil company expats, who all live on gated compounds about an hour south of town (adjacent to the LIS). There is a large Portuguese-speaking expat community of Portuguese and Brazilian citizens, but they are well integrated into society here and get around much more easily than those of us from the US or rest of Europe. - Jul 2013
Large. - Apr 2013
Large, but many expats are locked into company compounds or on oil rigs. - Aug 2011
Large. - Apr 2009
