Bangkok rated 4th best by Southeast Asia expats

Smog covers Bangkok, as seen from a room in the Parliament Building on Dec 10, 2020. The high air pollution in the Thai capital is one downside mentioned by expats in this year's global survey. (Photo: Apichart Jinakul)
Smog covers Bangkok, as seen from a room in the Parliament Building on Dec 10, 2020. The high air pollution in the Thai capital is one downside mentioned by expats in this year's global survey. (Photo: Apichart Jinakul)

Bangkok was rated behind Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City as the best place for expats to live in Southeast Asia in a global survey released on Wednesday.

Expat City Ranking 2021 by InterNations showed the Thai capital was ranked 11th globally out of 57 cities rated by expats. It was a big jump from last year's survey, which put Bangkok at 30th out of 66 cities.

Expats living in Thailand were impressed with the low cost of living and affordable housing and friendly local people, among other things.

But the quality of urban living and lack of career opportunities on offer for them were negatives.

The survey by InterNations, which has 4 million members in 420 cities, this year asked 12,420 expats in 57 chosen cities to rate their place of residence.

In Southeast Asia, Bangkok was rated fourth, behind Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City. The Malaysian capital dethroned Singapore as the top choice in the region.

In fact, Kuala Lumpur was rated best city in the world this year.

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Vocabulary

  • affordable: not expensive - ไม่แพง
  • dethrone (verb): to remove a king or queen from power; to remove somebody from a position of authority or power; to defeat a former champion in a sports competition so they are no longer champion - ขับออกจากบัลลังก์, ปลดอำนาจ, ปลดออกจากตำแหน่ง
  • expatriate (expat): a person living in a country that is not their own - คนที่อาศัยอยู่ต่างประเทศ (เป็นเวลานาน)
  • impressed: admiring someone or something very much because of an unusually good quality or achievement - ประทับใจ
  • lack of: when there is not enough of something - ขาด
  • rank: to put someone or something into a position according to their success, importance, size etc - จัดลำดับ
  • ranking: the position of somebody/something on a scale that shows how good or important they are in relation to other similar people or things, especially in sport - อันดับ
  • residence: a place where someone lives - ที่พำนัก ที่อาศัย
  • urban: connected with towns and cities - เขตเมือง
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