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Nearly 94% of Malaysians who renounced citizenship chose Singapore, data shows
Reading Time:3 minuteshttps://www.scmp.com/policies-and-standards
SCMP’s Asia desk
Published: 2:16pm, 8 Jan 2026
Most Malaysians who renounced their citizenship over the past five years went on to become Singaporeans, official data shows, underscoring the city state’s pull amid long-standing brain drain concerns.
In the past five years, 61,116 Malaysians gave up their citizenship, Malaysia’s National Registration Department director general Badrul Hisham Alias said, as reported by the New Straits Times newspaper.
Of those, nearly all – 57,314 individuals or close to 94 per cent – picked Singapore as their new home. Australia was a distant second at 2.15 per cent and Brunei third at 0.97 per cent.