Living costs

One of the major attractions of Malaysia is its low living costs.

International Swiss bank, UBS ranked Kuala Lumpur as the least costly of 71 cities surveyed across the world. This was based on a basket of goods and service prices, covering food, clothing, household items, healthcare and transportation, weighted to match a typical person's spending when living in Malaysia. The basket comprises comparable ordinary items and services. Not only was it less expensive than London and New York, it was also cheaper than other cities in the region such as Manila, Singapore and Bangkok.

One of the best international comparative cost measures, and used by The Economist magazine, is the cost of a McDonald's Big Mac burger. In Malaysia a Big Mac costs the equivalent of 73p, compared to £1.66 in the UK, £1.10 in Singapore and 77p in Hong Kong. Overall, of 65 countries surveyed, Malaysia with a rank of 60th is a remarkably inexpensive place to live.

To give other examples of how cheap Malaysia is, bread costs around 42p, and eating out in a local restaurant is about £2 per head, while a five-star hotel would charge around £7 to £16 per head.