Almost 40% of people in Singapore are foreign. Most foreigners come from Asia. The country where most foreigners come from are Malaysia, its closest neighbor. In 2009, there may have been 350,000 Malaysians working in Singapore. Many Chinese-speaking foreigners and Chinese-speaking Singaporeans work in services. Thus, Chinese is the main language of many workers such as hawkers, retail assistants, hairdressers, etc. in Singapore today.