Kuala Lumpur is crowned the world's best city to live in for expats

A home away from home.

Dec. 3, 2021

Kuala Lumpur is crowned the world's best city to live in for expats

Global expatriate networking group InterNations has just released the latest edition of its Expat City Ranking, which surveyed a total of 12,420 expats representing 174 nationalities living in 186 countries across the globe.

If the numbers say anything, that means the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur (KL), has been crowned the best city in the world to live in, at least for expats. This new ranking dethrones Singapore, shedding new light on expat perspectives of Southeast Asia's major cities.

How it's done.

The Expat City Ranking, which is conducted annually, focused on 57 different cities this year. The criteria for being considered in the survey includes having a minimum sample size of 50 respondents from each city.

While KL came out on top, it's worth noting that a few other cities in Southeast Asia also made the list, namely Singapore in a comfortable 5th place, Ho Chi Minh City in 6th, and Bangkok in 11th.

The survey asked respondents to provide ratings for various factors, all bundled up into four different indices: Quality of Urban Living, Getting Settled, Urban Work Life, and Finance & Housing.

Lion City roars with the finest urban quality of living in Southeast Asia.

IMAGE: Swapnil Bapat / Unsplash

Singapore ranks third in the Urban Quality of Living index, giving it the top spot in Southeast Asia in this category. A big draw for expats is the country's level of safety and stability, with 99 percent of expats living in Singapore looking at their personal safety with positive regard (compared to 84 percent globally).

In terms of political stability, 90 percent of respondents rated it positively.

“Singapore has a very open and vibrant culture, and the quality of life is excellent," says one Indian expat living there.

The ease of commuting is also another draw for expats, with 98 percent rating Singapore's public transport system favorably (vs. 69 percent globally). In fact, not a single respondent had anything negative to say about public transport in Singapore.

But it isn't the quality of life that presents itself as the biggest motivator for expats to move to Singapore. It's actually more out of obligation from work – expats are posted there by their employers.

Kuala Lumpur is a place for new beginnings.

IMAGE: Nour Betar / Unsplash

Ranking first in the Getting Settled index for 2021, KL is a particularly great place to make new connections for fresh-off-the-plane expats. 2021 is also the third time the Malaysian capital dominates this category, with 74 percent of expats saying they have a rather happy social life here.

Close to two-thirds of expats (65 percent) living in KL also agree it's easy to make new friends in the city. This is perhaps attributed to the dense population of expats in the Malaysian capital, with one Swiss respondent calling the city "very international with lovely people."

IMAGE: Ravin Rau / Unsplash

Another draw for expats is the fact that most people can get around with daily life without having to speak a lick of the local language – Bahasa Malaysia. Only 27 percent of KL expats speak the local tongue fairly well, with 73 percent saying they only speak a little, or none at all. Though Bahasa Malaysia in itself is a beautiful language, English remains supreme in terms of convenience. And KL offers a lot of that.

KL locals are also viewed by expats as friendly, with more than four in five expats (81 percent) rating the general friendliness of the local population positively (vs. 69 percent globally).

But more important than anything, 75 percent of expats say they feel right at home in KL.

Ho Chi Minh City makes working in an urban environment a total breeze.

IMAGE: Peter Nguyen / Unsplash

Coming in at 10th place in the Urban Work Life index, Vietnam's largest city offers one thing the rest of its Southeast Asian compatriots can't beat – job satisfaction.

Close to nine in 10 expats (88 percent) say they love their jobs in the city. That's 20 percent more than the global average. It's also worth noting that Ho Chi Minh City is the only non-European city to make it into the Top 10 in this category.

While the survey doesn't offer much more information regarding the Urban Work Life index for the Vietnamese city, it does come second-best in the Local Cost of Living subcategory bundled under the Finance and Housing index (in which it is also second-best, after KL and right above Bangkok). However, points scored in this subcategory aren't factored into the overall results.

Looking for great, affordable living? It doesn't get better than Kuala Lumpur.

IMAGE: K X I T H V I S U A L S / Unsplash

In addition to clinching the overall winner title for the Expat City Ranking 2021, KL also dominates the Finance & Housing index, making it THE destination for affordable and easily available expat housing.

More than nine in 10 expats (91 percent) agree that it's easy to find housing in the city (vs. 60 percent globally), with 74 percent being able to find affordable housing.

When it comes to the financial situations of KL expats, 80 percent view them positively compared to the global 64-percent average.

Despite being ranked as the best city in the world for expats, it's important to note that the Malaysian capital only ranks 41st in the Quality of Urban Living index. And when it comes to micro-factors such as political stability, personal safety, public transport, and the urban environment, Kuala Lumpur actually ranks below the global average.