KL drops from 26th to 126th in global ranking as most liveable city!

Vehicles spew toxic fumes far and wide in urban environments. Photo Credit: http://www.ucsusa.org
JUNE 15, 2016
Air pollution Debilitates and Kills
It’s not as if we needed any more confirmation that air pollution is bad for us, but here comes another one anyhow: it increases the risk of strokes. Based on a comprehensive global survey whose findings have been published in the medical journal The Lancet Neurology, unclean air has become a major cause of strokes suffered by people worldwide. Almost three-quarters (74%) of strokes in the 188 countries surveyed can be linked to behavioral factors such as smoking, lack of exercise and poor diets. That should not come as much of a surprise: scientists have long known this. But what’s surprising is that in 2013, the most recent year under survey, an estimated 16.9% of people globally suffered strokes as a result of air pollution. That is almost as much as from smoking (20.7%). Worse: the adverse effects of air pollution on people’s health have been increasing over the past decades in tandem with the increasing levels of air pollution, especially in developing countries … for more, go to http://cleanmalaysia.com/2016/06/15/air-pollution-debilitates-kills/

KL drops from 26th to 126th in global ranking as most liveable city!

The federal capital Kuala Lumpur (KL) has, over the years, steadily dropped from 25th to 126th as most liveable cities in the Asian expatriates annual ranking list by ECA International.

Isn’t that worrisome? And, air pollution and crime were cited as the main causes of KL dropping out of the 100 most liveable cities this year.

“This global ranking, for what and all its worth, should be taken seriously by Malaysians and Malaysia,” Gerakan Deputy Speaker Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff said.

He said both quality of environment and crime rate are two of the most important factors that determine the quality of life of Malaysians.

“Immediate and remedial action must be taken by the enforcement authorities to check this continuous alleged slide as a liveable city.

“Even if it is just a perception, the authorities still need to reverse such a serious perception that is marring the image of our country,” he added.

What We Don’t Like About Kuala Lumpur
Last updated on 28/02/2018 By Alyson Long for World Travel Family 8 Comments Any post on this site may contain affiliate links. If you use them, they cost you nothing extra. We make a small commission. Kuala Lumpur isn’t perfect. We’ve had a great time, seen some cool and interesting things, enjoyed excellent cheap and free public transport, eaten some fantastic food and stayed in top-notch accommodation, but all cities have their drawbacks, Kuala Lumpur has some not-so-nice bits, too We love KL, but just be aware of the following four things if you are planning a visit. Don’t be put off, read all our posts about how great Kuala Lumpur is, too! Four Things We Don’t Like About Kuala Lumpur. 1. Air Pollution. Some days it looks like this … for more, go to https://worldtravelfamily.com/what-we-dont-like-about-kuala-lumpur-malaysia-family-travel-blog-travel-with-kids/

Syed Razak, who is Gerakan’s nominee to contest N.37 Bukit Lanjan in the coming 14th General Election (GE14) said air pollution “ is an extremely serious issue”.

“If left unchecked, the consequences will be disastrous and extremely costly. Learn from China’s mistakes and how costly it has become for China to heal its environment.

“Don’t let our environment deteriorate to that level before we act. For one, rid the Malaysian roads of vehicles that continue belching thick black fumes.

“On crime, the police need to redouble or step up its efforts to forge a close working relationship of trust to fight crime.

“The police need to organise more public programmes with neighbourhood communities to achieve a strong spirit of togetherness to help reduce crime,” he added.

This was the damning report on KL as posted by online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT):

The capital city is now at 126th position on the list, a far cry from its one-time position of 25th.

"Crime, pollution push KL out of 100 most liveable cities list

FMT Reporters

KUALA LUMPUR: Air pollution and petty crime have caused Kuala Lumpur to drop out of the 100 most liveable cities for Asian expatriates list in an annual ranking by ECA International.

The capital city is now at a lowly 126th position in the latest Location Ratings survey published by the global mobility expert. At one time, Kuala Lumpur was placed 25th on the list.

Lee Quane, the regional director for Asia at ECA International said in a statement: “In the last five years, Kuala Lumpur has seen a drop in the rankings, falling from 25th to outside the top 100. One of the main causes for this is that while other locations have improved their air quality, the high levels of pollution in Kuala Lumpur, coupled with relatively high rates of petty crime, have seen the city slip down the rankings.

“However, the Malaysian capital scores well in categories such as utilities and the availability of housing, so there are still positives for any Asian expatriate moving to Kuala Lumpur.”

Singapore is once again the most liveable city in the world for Asian expatriates.

Quane said: “This is due to a combination of factors such as low crime rates, easy access to good quality schools and healthcare, and lower levels of pollution than a lot of other locations in the region.”

ECA’s Location Ratings system evaluates a host of factors to form an assessment of the overall quality of living in over 480 locations worldwide.

The system helps companies establish appropriate allowances to compensate employees for the adjustment required when going on international assignments.

Factors assessed include climate, availability of health services, housing and utilities, isolation, access to social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety, political tensions, and air quality.

Brisbane is second on the list while Adelaide, Sydney and Osaka share third spot.

Australian cities Perth (6), Canberra (10), Melbourne (13) and Darwin (13) are in the top 15.

Quane said: “Australian cities always tend to perform strongly in terms of liveability for Asian expats due to the excellent facilities and infrastructure, as well as the generally low levels of crime and air pollution.”

Beijing dropped 10 places to 134th, with most cities in China low on the list. The drop in liveability scores was mainly due to the increase in internet censorship and the ban on virtual private networks (VPNs) in the past 12 months, as well as the worsening pollution in a number of Chinese locations included in the survey.

Hong Kong is only joint 28th in the rankings.

In Europe, Copenhagen leads the way in 10th place while London lags behind in joint 67th. New York is similarly low in the rankings as the joint 82nd most liveable location for Asian expatriates.

“It may be surprising to some that London and New York do not score as well as many other European and North American locations on the list, but this is due primarily to higher levels of crime and air pollution,” Quane said.

“However, this is to be expected for cities of this size, and both locations are relatively high up the rankings when looking at the full list.”

Quane added that Japanese cities continued to perform well in the liveability rankings, with all the surveyed Japanese locations featuring in the top 40 places for Asian expatriates."

N.37 LET BUKIT LANJAN SOAR WITH SYED ABDUL RAZAK ALSAGOFF