The capital city is now at a lowly 126th position in the latest Location Ratings survey published by the global mobility expert. At one time, Kuala Lumpur was placed 25th on the list.
Lee Quane, the regional director for Asia at ECA International said in a statement: “In the last five years, Kuala Lumpur has seen a drop in the rankings, falling from 25th to outside the top 100. One of the main causes for this is that while other locations have improved their air quality, the high levels of pollution in Kuala Lumpur, coupled with relatively high rates of petty crime, have seen the city slip down the rankings.
“However, the Malaysian capital scores well in categories such as utilities and the availability of housing, so there are still positives for any Asian expatriate moving to Kuala Lumpur.”
Singapore is once again the most liveable city in the world for Asian expatriates.
Quane said: “This is due to a combination of factors such as low crime rates, easy access to good quality schools and healthcare, and lower levels of pollution than a lot of other locations in the region.”
ECA’s Location Ratings system evaluates a host of factors to form an assessment of the overall quality of living in over 480 locations worldwide.
The system helps companies establish appropriate allowances to compensate employees for the adjustment required when going on international assignments.
Factors assessed include climate, availability of health services, housing and utilities, isolation, access to social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety, political tensions, and air quality.
Brisbane is second on the list while Adelaide, Sydney and Osaka share third spot.
Australian cities Perth (6), Canberra (10), Melbourne (13) and Darwin (13) are in the top 15.
Quane said: “Australian cities always tend to perform strongly in terms of liveability for Asian expats due to the excellent facilities and infrastructure, as well as the generally low levels of crime and air pollution.”
Beijing dropped 10 places to 134th, with most cities in China low on the list. The drop in liveability scores was mainly due to the increase in internet censorship and the ban on virtual private networks (VPNs) in the past 12 months, as well as the worsening pollution in a number of Chinese locations included in the survey.
Hong Kong is only joint 28th in the rankings.
In Europe, Copenhagen leads the way in 10th place while London lags behind in joint 67th. New York is similarly low in the rankings as the joint 82nd most liveable location for Asian expatriates.
“It may be surprising to some that London and New York do not score as well as many other European and North American locations on the list, but this is due primarily to higher levels of crime and air pollution,” Quane said.
“However, this is to be expected for cities of this size, and both locations are relatively high up the rankings when looking at the full list.”
Quane added that Japanese cities continued to perform well in the liveability rankings, with all the surveyed Japanese locations featuring in the top 40 places for Asian expatriates.