Expats loved (and will continue to love) Malaysia. Period.

Expats loved (and will continue to love) Malaysia. Period.

Probably 25 years ago, when a Japanese expat in my first company was told that he would have to return to Japan earlier because times were not so rosy, he was extremely sad. He loved Malaysia and his wife loved it here too. In Malaysia, he was staying in a condo with full facilities and his wife was free to do what she wanted.

He drives to work in a Japanese branded Segment C car. Nothing to shout about BUT in Japan, if he was working in Tokyo, they would have to stay at a city which is maybe 200km away from Tokyo. They would have to take the bullet train to work and even if it’s super fast, that would still be over an hour to work and over an hour home every day.

His wife would also have to work so that they have a higher household income. Else, they may Life would be very different too.

This was 25 years ago.

Well, 25 years later, it seems that expats still love Malaysia.

And there are rankings to show it.

Malaysia is still highly rated by expats

The latest InterNations Expat Insider 2025 ranking placed Malaysia 10th out of 46 countries overall.

That is pretty impressive.

Malaysia ranked 20th for Quality of Life, 20th for Working Abroad, 17th for Ease of Settling In and, perhaps more interestingly, 3rd for Expat Essentials and 9th for Personal Finance.

In other words, Malaysia may not be perfect. No country is.

But for someone deciding where to live and work, Malaysia seems to offer a pretty attractive overall package.

And this is not just about 2025.

Back in 2021, Malaysia was ranked 4th overall among expat destinations, while Kuala Lumpur was ranked 1st out of 57 cities in the Expat City Ranking.

So my Japanese colleague 25 years ago may not have been an isolated case.

#1 The lifestyle matters

Let’s go back to that Japanese expat.

He had a comfortable condo. He had a car.

His wife did not necessarily need to work.

They could enjoy Malaysian food (or Japanese food easily with his expat salary), travel around Malaysia (and even the region) and have a relatively comfortable lifestyle.

Compare that with his alternative.

If they had to live about 200km away from Tokyo, his daily commute could easily become a major part of his life.

And his wife would probably need to work too to maintain a higher household income.

There is nothing wrong with working. Of course not.

But there is a difference between working because you want to and working because you need to.

That difference can be huge.

#2 Malaysia can offer more for the same money

This is probably one of the biggest attractions.

Housing is one obvious example.

In the 2021 Expat City Ranking, Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st in the Finance & Housing Index. About 74% of expats considered housing affordable, while 91% said it was easy to find housing.

Even more interesting, 64% of expats said their disposable household income was more than enough to cover their daily expenses.

This is not saying everyone in Malaysia is living comfortably.

It is saying that someone earning an international salary and spending in Malaysia can potentially enjoy a different standard of living.

And that is exactly the point.

#3 It is not just about money

If it was purely about cheap living, Malaysia would not necessarily rank so highly.

There is also the food.

The multicultural environment.

English being widely used.

The relatively easy access to different parts of Asia.

Shopping.

Private healthcare. (Compare to MOST developed countries if you like… I am confident with this point)

Condominium facilities. (Not flat yeah… not apartment yeah, it’s condominium)

Domestic help for those who choose to have it. (common thing for expats and even senior manager couples)

And, yes, the friendliness of Malaysians.

In 2021, Kuala Lumpur ranked first in the Getting Settled Index. About 81% of expats rated the local population positively for friendliness, while 77% felt Malaysians were generally friendly towards foreign residents.

That matters.

Imagine moving to another country and feeling that you can actually make friends.

That makes a huge difference to whether you call somewhere a temporary posting or home.

#4 Malaysia is not perfect

Of course, let’s not oversell Malaysia.

The same rankings also show areas where Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur could do better.

For example, Malaysia’s 2025 Quality of Life ranking was 20th, but Safety & Security was only 35th.

Kuala Lumpur also had weaker results in areas such as public transportation and safety in earlier rankings.

So yes, we have problems.

Traffic jams. Public transport gaps.

Safety concerns.

And plenty of other things Malaysians complain about every day.

Haha.

But perhaps we sometimes forget that people from outside Malaysia are looking at the whole package.

#5 What does this mean for Malaysians?

For me, this is the more interesting question.

Sometimes we look at Malaysia and think, “Everything is expensive now.”

Yes, it is.

House prices have increased. (though since 2013, it does seem property price has not moved that much)

Food prices have increased.

Cars are not exactly cheap. (petrol is…)

Education and healthcare can also be expensive.

But when we look at Malaysia from the perspective of an international worker, the equation can be very different.

A person earning a foreign salary but spending in Malaysia may enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.

That Japanese expat I knew 25 years ago understood this.

He was not simply sad about leaving a job.

He was sad about losing a way of life.

And perhaps that is something worth remembering.

Malaysia may not be perfect, but…

Twenty five years ago, one Japanese expat was extremely unhappy about having to leave Malaysia.

Twenty five years later, international rankings are still telling us something similar.

Malaysia continues to be attractive to expatriates because it offers a combination of affordability, housing, food, convenience, culture, language, lifestyle and social environment.

In 2025, Malaysia still ranked among the world’s better destinations for expats, at 10th out of 46 countries.

So perhaps the next time we complain about Malaysia, we should also look at our country through the eyes of someone who has a choice.

Maybe we will see something that we have taken for granted.

Malaysia is not perfect.

But perhaps Malaysia is still a pretty good place to live.

And sometimes, we only realise how good something is when someone from another country tells us they don’t want to leave.

Happy deciding.

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References

• InterNations Expat Insider 2025 – Malaysia — Malaysia ranked 10th out of 46 countries overall; includes Quality of Life, Working Abroad, Ease of Settling In, Expat Essentials and Personal Finance rankings.
• InterNations Expat Insider 2025 Survey Report — Detailed Malaysia rankings.
• InterNations Expat City Ranking 2021 — Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st out of 57 cities.
• InterNations Finance & Housing Index 2021 — Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st for Finance & Housing.
• InterNations Getting Settled Index 2021 — Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st for Getting Settled.
• InterNations Kuala Lumpur 2023 — Kuala Lumpur ranked 8th overall in 2023, with particularly strong results for Personal Finance and Expat Essentials.