And apparently, expats think so too!
One of the best
Malaysia has been named as one of the best destinations for expatriates to live and work this year, Malay Mail reported.In fact, our tanahair made it to number four on the list of 59 countries around the world, just behind Taiwan, Mexico and Costa Rica.
The ranking was based on a survey done by the Expat Insider 2021, released by the world’s largest expat community, InterNations.
The report said Malaysia was ranked fourth among 59 countries.
Rounding up the top then were Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Ecuador, Canada, and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Kuwait, Italy, South Africa, Russia, Egypt, Japan, Cyprus, Turkey, India and Malta were named as the worst countries for expats, so you might want to look elsewhere if you're thinking of working outside of the country.\
This is the seventh year the survey is being carried out to gauge expat’s views on living and working abroad.
Plenty to love
Malaysia scored high marks in the survey, which took in the opinion of more than 12,000 expats, especially when it comes to several specified factors.Among the factors include ease of settling in, in which Malaysia was ranked second based on 77 per cent votes, and cost of living, in which Malaysia was also ranked second.
Malaysia ranked ninth in the Personal Finance Index category, where almost three in four expats (73 per cent) were satisfied with their financial situation and 85 per cent said their disposable household income is enough to cover their expenses.
In terms of the country’s medical care, 82 per cent of the expats rated the country’s medical care positively and 71 per cent expats were satisfied with its affordability.
Now, comes the not-so-good part.
While Malaysia generally fared well in most areas surveyed, we were ranked in the bottom half (36th) in the Safety & Security subcategory, where 26 per cent of the expats surveyed said they were concerned with the country’s political stability.
Malaysia was also ranked 30th out of 59 countries when asked about how COVID-19 affected their life on a global and destination-based level.
Overall, we think fourth is quite a good placing, but we can definitely improve on certain parts of the ranking, don't you think?