Thailand was second, followed by China, Malaysia and Taiwan, with Hong Kong falling to a distant sixth, according to the latest survey by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, which was made available to some local media.

The consulting firm surveyed 1000 expatriates in the first two months of this year.

It was the first time that China, which was in seventh place in 2001, had overtaken Hong Kong in the regular surveys, newspaper said. PERC officials would not comment on the study.

Respondents in China lived mostly in Beijing and Shanghai, and attributed the improvement to construction of more entertainment facilities, better security, medical services, education policies and housing.

Hong Kong fell from fourth place and was criticised for its pollution problems and expensive housing. Even though property prices in the territory have fallen nearly 60 percent from their 1997 peaks, they remain expensive by international standards.

South Korea took seventh place, followed by Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and India, while Indonesia came in last at number 12.

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