Kuala Lumpur Named the 3rd Best City in Asia to Live in, 8th Globally by New Study

In a recent international survey among people who live and work abroad, Kuala Lumpur has been named the 3rd best city in Asia to live in and globally, the Malaysian capital city was ranked 8th.

Part of the annual Expat City Ranking by InterNations, the largest global community for people who live and work abroad, Kuala Lumpur ranked highly among 49 cities globally that made it to the list.

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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. Meanwhile, globally, Kuala Lumpur finished 8th behind the two aforementioned UAE cities, 4 cities in Spain and Mexico City.

Here are the top 10 best cities according to InterNations’ Expat City Ranking 2023:

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

The rankings were based on how expats felt about living and working abroad in the last year, whereby InterNations surveyed more than 12,000 expats worldwide.

A total of 177 expat nationalities in 181 countries or territories were surveyed, with factors such as ease of settling in, personal finance, quality of life and more considered.

Meanwhile, in InterNations’ Expat Insider 2023, Malaysia as a whole was ranked as the 4th best place in the world for expats to live in, just behind Mexico, Spain and Panama.

In the same study, Malaysia also recorded the biggest jump in the rankings for quality of life, going from placing 44th out of 52 destinations in 2022 to 29th out of 53 this year.

So, what do you guys think of the findings by InterNations? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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