KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia is 24th in InterNations’ global Expat City Ranking 2024 index, losing to regional neighbours Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand which made the top ten for countries that expatriates find easiest to settle in.
InterNations, a web portal for the global expatriate community, ranked Philippines 3rd, Indonesia 4th and Thailand 6th in the main category of Ease of Settling In for 2024. The top two countries were Costa Rica and Mexico.
Malaysia’s placement at 24th puts it just after South Africa (23rd) and before Saudi Arabia (25th). Singapore placed 30th.
However, it is a slide from the 2023 index, when Malaysia was placed 15th.
The 2024 index surveyed expatriates in 53 countries, as it did for the 2023 rankings. As to the methodology, InterNations said each of the 53 destinations “met the minimum sample size of 50 respondents”.
The main Ease of Settling In category is further divided into three subcategories, in which regional neighbours Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand all beat Malaysia.
In the Culture and Welcome subcategory for 2024, Malaysia was placed 25th, behind Saudi Arabia (23rd) and South Africa (24th), and before the USA (26th). Singapore placed 30th.
This subcategory covers whether expats feel welcomed and at home, as well as how easy it is to get used to the local culture of their host country.
However, Philippines (3th), Indonesia (4th) and Thailand (7th) were found to be more welcoming than Malaysia.
The second subcategory, Local Friendliness of the population in general towards foreign residents, saw Malaysia outperform India (25th) and Singapore (34th), coming in just after Qatar (23rd).
Locals in Indonesia (2nd), Philippines (4th) and Thailand (9th) again beat Malaysians.
Malaysia was also 24th in the third subcategory – Finding Friends – beating Saudi Arabia (25th) and Singapore (28th). Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand were again in the top ten, at 2nd, 4th and 8th place, respectively.
This subcategory looks at whether expats are happy with their social life, are able to develop a personal support network in the country, and their sentiments on making local friends.
The Finding Friends subcategory was another slide for Malaysia, which placed 10th in 2023.
In November last year, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat there were 120,183 expatriates in Malaysia as of Oct 31. Over 60% of them were from China. The next four largest nationalities were Indian, Filipino, Japanese and Indonesian.
Saifuddin Nasution said expatriates contribute about RM75 billion or 4.8% of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product to the economy, and some RM100 million in income tax to the Inland Revenue Board. – March 17, 2025