Ranked: The Best Places to Live In Southeast Asia

Every year, Mercer, one of the world's largest HR consultancy firms, releases its Quality of Living Index, which looks at which cities provide the best quality of life.

The ranking is one of the most comprehensive of its kind and is carried out annually to help multinational companies and other employers to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments, according to Mercer.

Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list of the best quality of life:

Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services)
Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools)
Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion)
Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

For over 450 cities throughout the world; this year’s ranking includes 231 cities and herewith, Seasia gathered and simplified the information on how the Southeast Asian countries are doing in the ranking list.

SINGAPORE

1. For the region, Singapore tops the ranks in Asia as the city with the best quality of living, well ahead of Tokyo and Hong Kong because of its efficient infrastructure.

2. The city-state gained one spot from last year and came in at number 25 on a global ranking.

3. The Republic top the list on quality of city infrastructure, which includes the supply of electricity, drinking water and phone services.

4. According to Mercer, Singapore also scored high because of “internal stability, wide availability of consumer goods, availability and quality of housing and low incidence of natural disasters.”

MALAYSIA

1. The annual survey ranked Malaysia with a global ranking of 86, with the best quality of life in Southeast Asia.

2. Kuala Lumpur has been ranked the second best city in the region, with Johor Bahru of Malaysia's southern state in third place.

2. According to Malaysia's The Star on the Mercer's ranking, in terms of Asian cities, Kuala Lumpur is ranked at number 10, while Johor Bahru, which is 103rd globally, is ranked at number 14.