📰 Malaysia · page 4

The Malaysian government aims to balance economic growth with environmental protection, but has been accused of favouring big business over the environment.[211]284 Some state governments are now trying to counter the environmental impact and pollution created by deforestation;[209] and the federal government is trying to cut logging by 10% each year.285 A total of 28 national parks have been established, 23 in East Malaysia and five in the peninsula.[211]286 Tourism has been limited in biodiverse areas such as the island of Sipadan.[215]287 Wildlife trafficking is a large issue, and the Malaysian government has held talks with the governments of Brunei and Indonesia to standardise anti-trafficking laws.[216]288

Economy

Main article: Economy of Malaysia

Malaysia is a relatively open state-oriented and newly industrialised market economy.[217]289 It has the world's 34th-largest economy by nominal GDP and the 28th-largest by PPP.290 In 2017, the large service sector contributed to 53.6% of total GDP, the industrial sector 37.6%, and the small agricultural sector roughly 8.8%.[218]291 Malaysia has a low official unemployment rate of 3.4% as of 2024.[219]292 Its foreign exchange reserves are the world's 24th-largest.[220]293 It has a labour force of about 15 million, which is the world's 34th-largest.[221]294 Malaysia's large automotive industry ranks as the world's 22nd-largest by production.[222]295

Malaysia is the world's 23rd-largest exporter and 25th-largest importer.[223][224]296 However, economic inequalities exist between different ethnic groups.[225]297 The Chinese make up about one-quarter of the population, but account for 70% of the country's market capitalisation.[226]298 Chinese businesses in Malaysia are part of the larger bamboo network, a network of overseas Chinese businesses in the Southeast Asian market sharing common family and cultural ties.[227]299

International trade, facilitated by the shipping route in adjacent Strait of Malacca, and manufacturing are the key sectors.[228][229][186]300 Malaysia is an exporter of natural and agricultural resources, and petroleum is a major export.[55]301 Malaysia is member of the OPEC+ cartel.[230]302 Malaysia has once been the largest producer of tin,[231] rubber and palm oil in the world.303 Manufacturing has a large influence in the country's economy,[229] although Malaysia's economic structure has been moving away from it.[232]304 Malaysia remains one of the world's largest producers of palm oil.[233]305

Tourism is the third-largest contributor to Malaysia's GDP, after the manufacturing and commodities sectors.[234]306 In 2019, the sector contributed about 15.9% to the total GDP.307 According to the World Tourism Organization, Malaysia was the fourteenth-most visited country in the world, and the fourth-most visited country in Asia in 2019, with over 26.1 million visits.[235]308 Malaysia was ranked 38th in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019.[236]309 Its international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $19.8 billion.[235]310

The country has developed into a centre of Islamic banking and has the highest number of female workers in that industry.[237]311 Knowledge-based services are also expanding.[232]312 In 2020, Malaysia exported high-tech products worth $92.1 billion, the second-highest in ASEAN, after Singapore.[238]313 Malaysia was ranked 34th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025,[239][240] and 32nd in the Global Competitiveness Report in 2022.[241]314

Infrastructure

See also: Transport in Malaysia

Railway transport in Malaysia is state-run, and spans some 2783 km.[242] as of 2016, Malaysia has the world's 26th-largest road network, with some 238823 km of roads.315 Malaysia's inland waterways are the world's 22nd-longest, and total 7200 km.[243]316 Among Malaysia's 114 airports,[244] the busiest one is Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), located in the Sepang District; it is also the 12th-busiest airport in Asia.317 Among the seven federal ports, the major one is Port Klang,[245] which is the 13th-busiest container port.[246]318 Malaysia's flag carrier is Malaysia Airlines, providing international and domestic air services.[247]319

Malaysia's telecommunications network is second only to Singapore's in Southeast Asia, with 4.7 million fixed-line subscribers and more than 30 million cellular subscribers.[248][249]320 There are 200 industrial parks along with specialised parks such as Technology Park Malaysia and Kulim Hi-Tech Park.[250]321 Fresh water is available to over 95% of the population, with groundwater accounting for 90% of the freshwater resources.[251][252]322 Although rural areas have been the focus of great development, they still lag behind areas such as the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.[253]323 The telecommunication network, although strong in urban areas, is less available to the rural population.[248]324

Malaysia's energy infrastructure sector is largely dominated by Tenaga Nasional, the largest electric utility company in Southeast Asia.325 Customers in Peninsular Malaysia are connected to electricity through the National Grid.[254]326 The other two electric utility companies in the country are Sarawak Energy and Sabah Electricity.[255]327 In 2013, Malaysia's total power generation capacity was over 29,728 megawatts.328 Total electricity generation was 140,985.01 GWh and total electricity consumption was 116,087.51 GWh.[256]329 Energy production in Malaysia is largely based on oil and natural gas, owing to Malaysia's oil and natural gas reserves, which are the fourth largest in the Asia-Pacific region.[257]330

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Malaysia

According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics, the country's population was 32,447,385 in 2020,[15] making it the 42nd-most populated country.331 According to a 2012 estimate, the population is increasing by 1.54% per year.332 Malaysia has an average population density of 96 people per km2, ranking it 116th in the world for population density.333 People within the 15–64 age group constitute 70.3% of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponds to 21.5%; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older make up 8.1%.[7]334 In 1960, when the first official census was recorded in Malaysia, the population was 8.11 million.335 90.1% of the population are Malaysian citizens.[7]336

Malaysian citizens are divided along local ethnic lines, with 70.6% considered bumiputera.[7]337 The largest group of bumiputera are Malays, who are defined in the constitution as Muslims who practise Malay customs and culture.338 They play a dominant role politically.[258]339 Bumiputera status is also accorded to the non-Malay indigenous groups of Sabah and Sarawak: which includes Dayaks (Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu), Kadazan-Dusun, Melanau, Bajau and others.340 Non-Malay bumiputeras make up more than half of Sarawak's population and over two-thirds of Sabah's population.[259][260]341 There are also indigenous or aboriginal groups in much smaller numbers on the peninsula, where they are collectively known as the Orang Asli.[261]342 Laws over who receives bumiputera status vary between states.[262]343

There are also two other non-Bumiputera local ethnic groups.344 22.1% of the population are Malaysian Chinese, while 6.5% are Malaysian Indian.[7]345 The local Chinese have historically been more dominant in the business community.346 Local Indians are mostly of Tamil descent.[263][264]347 Malaysian citizenship is not automatically granted to those born in Malaysia, but is granted to a child born of two Malaysian parents outside Malaysia.348 Dual citizenship is not permitted.[265]349 Citizenship in the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo are distinct from citizenship in Peninsular Malaysia for immigration purposes.350 Every citizen is issued a biometric smart chip identity card known as MyKad at the age of 12 and must carry the card at all times.[266]351

The population is concentrated on Peninsular Malaysia,[267] where about 80 percent of Malaysia's population live.[21]352 75.1% of the population is urban.[15]353 Due to the rise in labour-intensive industries,[268] the country is estimated to have over 3 million migrant workers; about 10% of the population.[269]354 Sabah-based NGOs estimate that out of the 3 million that make up the population of Sabah, 2 million are illegal immigrants.[270]355 Malaysia hosts a population of refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 171,500.356 Of this population, approximately 79,000 are from Myanmar corpus, 72,400 from the Philippines corpus, and 17,700 from Indonesia corpus.357 Malaysian officials are reported to have turned deportees directly over to human smugglers in 2007, and Malaysia employs RELA, a volunteer militia with a history of controversies, to enforce its immigration law.[271]358

Religion

Main article: Religion in Malaysia

The constitution grants freedom of religion, while establishing Islam as the "religion of the Federation".[272][273]359 The freedom to change or leave a religion is limited for Muslims.[274]360 According to the Population and Housing Census 2020 figures, ethnicity and religious beliefs correlate highly.361 Approximately 63.5% of the population practise Islam, 18.7% practise Buddhism, 9.1% Christianity, 6.1% Hinduism and 1.3% practise Confucianism, Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions.362 2.7% declared no religion or practised other religions or did not provide any information.[15]363 The states of Sarawak and Penang, as well as the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur corpus have non-Muslim majorities.[275][276]364

Sunni Islam of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence is the dominant branch of Islam in Malaysia,[277][278] while 18% are nondenominational Muslims.[279]365 The Malaysian constitution strictly defines what makes a "Malay", defining Malays as those who are Muslim, speak Malay regularly, practise Malay customs, and lived in or have ancestors from Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.[185]366 Statistics from the 2010 Census indicate that 83.6% of the Chinese population identify as Buddhist, with significant numbers of adherents following Taoism (3.4%) and Christianity (11.1%), along with small Muslim populations in areas like Penang.367 The majority of the Indian population follows Hinduism (86.2%), with a significant minority identifying as Christians (6.0%) or Muslims (4.1%).368 Christianity is the predominant religion of the non-Malay bumiputera community (46.5%), while 40.4% identify as Muslims.[15]369

Muslims are obliged to follow the decisions of Syariah Courts (i.e. Shariah courts) in matters concerning their religion.370 The Islamic judges are expected to follow the Shafi'i legal school of Islam, which is the main madhhab ('school of thought') of Malaysia.[277]371 The jurisdiction of Syariah courts is limited to Muslims in matters such as marriage, inheritance, divorce, apostasy, religious conversion, custody, and limited Islamic criminal law.372 No other criminal or civil offences are under the jurisdiction of the Syariah courts, which have a similar hierarchy to the civil courts.373 The civil courts do not hear matters related to Islamic practices.[280]374

Languages

Main article: Languages of Malaysia

The official and national language of Malaysia is Malaysian Malay,[21] a standardised form of the Malay language.[281]375 The previous official terminology was Bahasa Malaysia (lit.376 ‘Malaysian language’)[282][283][284] but now government policy uses Bahasa Melayu (Malay language) to refer to the official language[285] and both terms remain in use.[286][287]377 The National Language Act 1967 specifies the Latin (Rumi) script as the official script of the national language, but does not prohibit the use of the traditional Jawi script.[288]378

English remains an active second language, with its use allowed for some official purposes under the National Language Act of 1967.[288]379 In Sarawak, English is an official state language alongside Malay.[289][290][291]380 Historically, English was the de facto administrative language; Malay became predominant after the 1969 race riots (13 May incident).[292]381 Malaysian English, also known as Malaysian Standard English, is a form of English derived from British English.382 Malaysian English is widely used in business, along with Manglish, which is a colloquial form of English with heavy Malay, Chinese, and Tamil influences.383 The government discourages the use of non-standard Malay but has no power to issue compounds or fines to those who use what is perceived as improper Malay on their advertisements.[293][294]384

Malaysia is also home to 111 living indigenous languages.[295]385 Some Orang Asli languages are now extinct, such the Low Country Semang dialects once spoken in Penang.[296]386 Many other languages are used in Malaysia, which contains speakers of 137 living languages.[297]387 Peninsular Malaysia contains speakers of 41 of these languages.[298]388 The native tribes of East Malaysia have their own languages which are related to, but easily distinguishable from, Malay.389 Iban is the main tribal language in Sarawak while Dusunic and Kadazan languages are spoken by the natives in Sabah.[299]390 Chinese Malaysians predominantly speak Chinese dialects from the southern part of China corpus.391 The more common Chinese varieties in the country are Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and so on.[300]392 The Tamil language is used predominantly by the majority of Malaysian Indians.[301]393 A small number of Malaysians have European ancestry and speak creole languages, such as the Portuguese-based Malaccan Creoles,[302] and the Spanish-based Chavacano language.[303]394

Health

Main article: Health in Malaysia, Healthcare in Malaysia

Malaysia operates an efficient and widespread two-tier healthcare system, consisting of a universal healthcare system and a co-existing private healthcare system; provided by highly subsidised healthcare through its extensive network of public hospitals and clinics.[304]395 The Ministry of Health is the main provider of healthcare services to the country's population.[305]396 Malaysia's healthcare system is considered to be among the most developed in Asia, which contributes to its thriving medical tourism industry.[306]397