Kuala Lumpur was ranked ninth and George Town 10th, after Singapore, Kobe, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Macau, Seoul and Taipei, said ECA International, an agency that develops and provides solutions for the management and assignment of employees around the world, in its annual Location Ratings Survey.
The survey rates living standards in more than 400 locations globally, according to categories including climate, air quality, health services, housing and utilities, isolation, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety and political tensions.
Its overall ratings are normally used by international human resources departments to establish allowances which compensate expatriate staff for the difficulties in adapting to living in their assignment location.
Both Kuala Lumpur and George Town were also ranked ninth in Asia for Asians to live in, the survey said, adding that in the world’s rankings, they took 61st and 64th spots, respectively.
“These rankings reveal a large gulf in the quality of living among Asian locations,” said ECA International Regional Director Asia Lee Quane.
He said while there were a handful of locations in Asia which offered Asian assignees a good standard of living, the majority of locations would be challenging in some shape or form and therefore, warranting high location allowances. — Bernama
Source : The Star 12/03/09