A new Retirement Index from International Living.com placed Malaysia at #5 on a list of ideal destinations to retire in 2018, making it the highest-ranked Asian country. According to The Star Online, the index takes into consideration criteria such as cost of living, healthcare and climate, putting Costa Rica at the top of the list.
According to International Living.com, Malaysia is ideal because of the tropical climate and retirees have a choice to live in the heart of cities or in mellow towns, most of which are surrounded by nature or beaches.
It also notes the cost of living in Malaysia is only a small portion of living costs in Western countries and retirees can live comfortably with $2,500 a month. The site also provided an estimated breakdown on living costs. Medical tourism is another factor, with most expats willing to pay for quality healthcare at affordable prices.
Food is the binding force within Malaysian communities, especially with the country’s mixed ethnicities. Local markets are abundant with not only fresh goods, but also local food options. There are many restaurants and international groceries to provide supplies if retirees feel homesick.
Moving to Malaysia during retirement years is not particularly difficult, especially with the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, and the site said this retirement visa option is one of the best in the world.
Previously ranked 4th, Costa Rica’s location between the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean made it a safe destination both day and night, due to low crime levels. Costa Rica is also focused on environmental preservation, with 25% of the country’s territory protected. Their economy has also seen constant growth.
The index is carried out yearly , compiling the top 24 retirement havens worldwide based on key criteria for a happy and successful retirement. Political life and retirements benefits are among the other 12 factors that are taken into consideration for the index, all of which are based on retirees living with at least $1,500 per month.
Here’s the top 10 countries that topped the list:
1. Costa Rica
2. Mexico
3. Panama
4. Ecuador
5. Malaysia
6. Colombia
7. Portugal
8. Nicaragua
9. Spain
10. Peru
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Tim Meyer
Note most listed are low income, lower quality life, not so safe countries hence lower living cost. If you are rich, you will only consider countries like australia, sweden, norway etc.
Dennis McMahon, Adam Kiss, Redza Khalid, Max Csc. No 5!
Marie Cynthia Norton Gerard Norton
Vikraman Nair Ashvind Rajaram Joveena Francis Suthagaraan Prabakaran Maher Vann Dhillon Gurjant Singh Gill
With USD2,500 a month to retire on, there are very very many other choices…..
Kieran!
Money exchange rate of course makes it tempting to retire here. Wait until they start living here and find out …. Crime, traffic signs are for decoration purpose only, politicians are 5 year olds … Yadda Yadda yadda
I know many foreigners and expats who have lived here for years and they liked it here. Mostly about the food, the nature, culture, environment, and the people. But not negative people like you of course.
Sure coming from people like u who have the entitled privileged mentality who looks at the world with rose tinted glasses
Agree with you Shahridzad
Only poor people have hard time in Malaysia. Those foreigners are mostly rich and they do not care about the policy involving the locals but themselves. No wonder it’s heaven for them -_-
I can tell you this much.. am not the privileged race you mentioned and yet love every bit of Malaysia.. nothing like what you are saying..
Looks like you haven’t lived long enough in Malaysia to know who are the privileged race …
From your words, clearly you are the one who live in a cave, and never actually spoke with any foreigners. Most of them praised Malaysia, even tourists. Some even said Malaysia is the best country in SEA, even better than Singapore, because currency is not everything. And no, this is not from my “rose tinted glasses” point of view, this is from what I gather from talking and socializing. Do you have problem in understanding simple English?
And for those who think it is only because our currency is low compares to their, in SEA only Brunei and Singapore have significantly higher currencies than us, while Thai is slightly higher. And thats it. Why dont they choose Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, or even Philippines that is highly influenced by US and even has lower currency than Malaysia?
Oh, and foreigners dont care about our politics. Earlier you said it was about crime, traffic (lol you have no idea about our neighboring countries), but then you start talking about “privileges”. Well, thats something to talk about, but it was some other issue not related to the post. But clearly it shows that is actually your main reason on why you hate your country, and you tried to bring everything else down. In conclusion, you have no point besides you feel very dissatisfied right now.
O wow, u claim to have spoken to ALL foreigners to speak on their behalf? Why don’t you delve deeper? Age group? Country? Their country’s political status? Their employment/unemployment rate in their country? Their taxation in their country?
Nasty person you are … it was just an opinion in which i am also entitled to have an opinion. It was never an insult to foreigners … why are you getting to wrinkled up into a bunch? Clearly your mentality is questionable
Try living in those country yourself … those countries you had mentioned has got foreigners living there too … there are plenty living in indonesia … maybe perhaps you are the one who has not ventured out of the country to live a few years there.
Caroline Ng just shut up hater. Why are you here if you hate Malaysia so much??
Caroline Ng wow.. you need some help medically to treat your hatred condition
What’s wrong with u Jocobs Sran? There is no hatred at all … It’s u who have misjudged n miss understood … So shut the hell up
We are retiring in Malaysia ….
Partly due to the vast depreciation of Ringgit over the past few years.
All depend on what type of retirees you are. What do you look for during retirement. Your need and wishes changes with time too, so your preferred place to retire change too.
Djembe Jessi
Tommy Leung