IN a recent global survey of individuals living and working abroad, Kuala Lumpur has secured the third position as the best city in Asia to reside in and is ranked eighth globally.
This recognition comes from the annual Expat City Ranking conducted by InterNations, the world’s largest community for individuals living and working abroad.
Kuala Lumpur stood out among the 49 cities worldwide included in the survey.
In Asia, Kuala Lumpur is only behind the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi, which were ranked first and second respectively.
On a global scale, Kuala Lumpur secured the eighth spot, following the two aforementioned UAE cities, four cities in Spain, and Mexico City.
The top 10 cities according to InterNations’ Expat City Ranking 2023 are as follows:
1. Malaga, Spain
2. Alicante, Spain
3. Valencia, Spain
4. Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
5. Abu Dhabi, UAE
6. Madrid, Spain
7. Mexico City, Mexico
8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9. Bangkok, Thailand
10. Muscat, Oman
These rankings were derived from the experiences of expats over the past year, with InterNations surveying over 12,000 expats globally.
The survey covered 177 expat nationalities in 181 countries or territories, considering factors such as ease of settling in, personal finance, and quality of life.
Additionally, in InterNations’ Expat Insider 2023, Malaysia as a whole was recognized as the fourth-best place in the world for expats to live, following Mexico, Spain, and Panama.
The study also highlighted Malaysia’s notable improvement in the quality of life rankings, moving from 44th out of 52 destinations in 2022 to 29th out of 53 this year.
