KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Malaysia's national capital is the sixth most affordable city to live in and the ninth best in terms of conducting business, according to a benchmarking study of 30 leading global cities by financial services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
PwC’s Cities of Opportunity Index placed Kuala Lumpur at an overall 19th position of a report which measured the social and economic health of 30 of the world’s leading business cities, beating Jakarta (28th), and Mumbai (29th) and just behind Beijing (18th place).
London claimed the overall top position in the index, followed by Singapore at second place and Toronto at third. Paris and Amsterdam came in at fourth and fifth place.
The 30 cities' performance was measured against 10 indicators including transportation and infrastructure, ease of doing business, demographics and liveability, technology readiness and cost.
The report demonstrates that cities succeed not only when they perform well economically, but when they succeed in providing a range of social features, including good quality of life, senior wellbeing, housing, and disaster preparedness — each of which demonstrates a strong relationship with top cities in the study.
"Balance works best in today’s complex urban ecosystems. Education, transit, health, economics, and governance all have to line up for a city to lead.
"The good life is not a luxury. It’s a basic requirement for cities and businesses to get and keep talent," said the report.
The 30 cities are sorted from the best to the worst performing, with each receiving a score ranging from 30 for best to 1 for worst. In the event of a tie between two cities, they are assigned the same score.
In terms of cost, Dubai tied in with Malaysia at sixth place, while Johannesburg and Toronto came in at first and second place. Top overall performing cities like London placed poorly in this indicator, coming in at 26th. Beijing is the least affordable city to live in (30th spot).
Variables used to measure the cost indicator include corporate total tax rate, personal tax, cost of business occupancy, cost of living and affordability of rent.
Cities included in the report are: Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Chicago, Dubai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. 
