The US edition of Business Insider just announced the results of InterNations’ 27-city ranking of the world’s best cities for expats living abroad – noting that these are the places where expats are happiest, rents are affordable, cost of living is favourable, and jobs are plentiful – and Kuala Lumpur landed at an impressive 4th place worldwide.

InterNations is an expatriate network and global guide for those living abroad. To compile its list, InterNations surveyed nearly 8,000 expats living in 40 countries around the world. A city had to be mentioned by survey respondents at least 45 times to be included. City rankings were determined based on expats’ responses of quality and cost of urban living, quality of work life, financial matters, and ease of settling into the city.

Business Insider then took it a step further by including some metrics for the costs of necessities (and, it must be noted, beer, too), based on figures taken from Numbeo.

No Asian city placed higher than Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysian readers will doubtlessly be delighted to see that regional rivals Singapore and Hong Kong – Southeast Asia’s most globally well-known expat cities – didn’t even place on the list, likely because of their exorbitant costs of living, or perhaps because they didn’t hit the aforementioned 45-mention threshold. Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok were in fact the only regional cities on the list. Most of the cities (15 of 27) were European, with a handful in the Middle East and Africa, perhaps making KL’s strong placing all the more impressive. It’s important to note that these rankings are based on responses from actual expats around the world, so take that into consideration when perusing the list.

To expats who live in and love Malaysia, a 4th-place showing for the country’s capital city comes as no surprise. Expats have for many years praised Kuala Lumpur for its dynamic, multicultural city life, low cost of living, high degree of regional connectivity, and wealth of things to see and do – and of course for its near-unrivalled foodie scene, too. We are thrilled to see KL getting more positive international recognition like this, and it’s absolutely well-deserved.

What city grabbed the top spot? It will almost certainly surprise you – presuming you’ve ever even heard of this place! So without further ado, here are the top 27 cities in the world for expats – according to the expats themselves:

27. Stockholm, Sweden

26. Cape Town, South Africa

25. Kampala, Uganda

24. Munich, Germany

23. Zurich, Switzerland

22. Vienna, Austria

21. Seoul, South Korea

20. Hamburg, Germany

19. The Hague, Netherlands

18. Berlin, Germany

17. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

16. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

15. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

14. Auckland, New Zealand

13. Budapest, Hungary

12. Muscat, Oman

11. Mexico City, Mexico

And for the top 10, we’ll show you the in-depth criteria, too:

10. Frankfurt, Germany

Cost of living compared with New York City: 21.2% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $1,059.52 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $242.30

Commuter pass: $101.23

Cappuccino: $3.28

Domestic beer: $4.67

9. Basel, Switzerland

Cost of living compared with New York City: 29.9% higher

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $1,351.15 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $208.64

Commuter pass: $80.30

Cappuccino: $5.29

Domestic beer: $8.03

8. Bangkok, Thailand

Cost of living compared with New York City: 45.8% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $636.70 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $83.45

Commuter pass: $30.25

Cappuccino: $2.18

Domestic beer: $2.01

7. Johannesburg, South Africa

Cost of living compared with New York City: 56.9% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $480.83 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $68.83

Commuter pass: $34.50

Cappuccino: $1.67

Domestic beer: $2.07

6. Barcelona, Spain

Cost of living compared with New York City: 34% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $990.58 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $153.77

Commuter pass: $58.35

Cappuccino: $2.00

Domestic beer: $3.27

5. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cost of living compared with New York City: 16.1% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $1,646.41 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $179.19

Commuter pass: $104.92

Cappuccino: $3.18

Domestic beer: $5.25

4. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Cost of living compared with New York City: 55.6% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $540.08 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $52.45

Commuter pass: $29.85

Cappuccino: $2.53

Domestic beer: $3.58

3. Madrid, Spain

Cost of living compared with New York City: 35.2% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $919.92 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $138.04

Commuter pass: $63.65

Cappuccino: $1.97

Domestic beer: $3.26

2. Prague, Czech Republic

Cost of living compared with New York City: 49.5% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $703.08 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $184.45

Commuter pass: $25.09

Cappuccino: $2.12

Domestic beer: $1.60

1. Manama, Bahrain

Cost of living compared with New York City: 42.1% lower

Monthly Expenses:

Rent: $940.43 for a one-bedroom in the city centre

Utilities: $84.00

Commuter pass: $39.74

Cappuccino: $4.59

Domestic beer: $9.27

A big part of the top cities’ strong performance seems to be the ease with which expats get settled in. Feeling welcome and accepted by the local population goes a long way here, and Kuala Lumpur did very well in this regard. According to the InterNations results, “Manama, Prague, Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, and Amsterdam top the list of the best cities for expats: while Prague lags behind on 35th place for getting settled, the other four cities receive good to excellent ratings in this respect. A South African expat living in Kuala Lumpur likes ‘the easy-going temperament and friendliness of the local people’ while an expat from the Philippines appreciates the ‘very friendly and helpful locals’ in Manama. The majority of expats rates the general friendliness towards foreign residents positively in Manama (84%), Amsterdam (83%), Kuala Lumpur (78%), and Madrid (74%), compared to a global average of 67 percent.”