The number of Chinese citizens living in Malaysia has almost doubled over the past three years, driven by a jump in students and new investors, according to government officials, academics, schools, and business and community associations.

“Today, there are easily 150,000, and it could even be 200,000” Chinese citizens in Malaysia, said Ngeow Chow Bing, director at the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya, up from about 82,000 in 2022, which he called a “very conservative estimate”.

China’s slowing economic growth as well as a more heavyhanded approach to business have driven more of its citizens to seek new lives abroad. Wealthy Chinese citizens have flocked to destinations such as Singapore and Malta where they have acquired citizenship through investment, and they make up the largest source of golden visa applicants in Portugal and Greece. Chinese citizens also form one of the largest groups of illegal migrants attempting to enter the US from Latin America.