Country Facts - Malaysia

The People

Nationality

Malaysian(s)

Ethnic Composition

Malay and other indigenous	58%
Chinese	24%
Indian	8%
Other	10%

(2000)

Religious Composition

Peninsular Malaysia
Muslim (Malays), Buddhist (Chinese), and Hindu (Indians).
(No statistics available)
Sabah

Muslim	38%
Christian	17%
Other	45%

Sarawak

Tribal religion	35%
Buddhist and Confucianist	24%
Muslim	20%
Christian	16%
Other	5%

Languages Spoken

Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai. In addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan.

Education and Literacy

Religious and secular schools train students. Compulsory education lasts nine years. Overall adult literacy is 83.5 percent. Adult literacy is over 80 percent in Peninsular Malaysia and dips down to 60 percent in Sabah and Sarawak. Along gender lines there is quite a disparity. In the adult population 89.1 percent of males are literate, as opposed to 78.1 percent of females.

Labor Force

Total: 9.9 million (2001)

By occupation:

Local trade and tourism	28%
Manufacturing	27%
Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries	16%
Services	10%
Government	10%
Construction	9%

(2000)

Geography

Land Mass Total

127,317 sq mi (329,750 sq km)

Land

126,853 sq mi (328,550 sq km)

Water

463 sq mi (1,200 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 1,658 mi (2,669 km)
Border countries: Brunei 236 mi (381 km), Indonesia 1,107 mi (1,782 km), Thailand 314 mi (506 km)

Coastline

Total: 2,904 mi (4,675 km)
Peninsular Malaysia 1,284 mi (2,068 km), East Malaysia 1,619 mi (2,607 km)

Maritime claim

Continental shelf: 656 ft (200 m) depth or to the depth of exploitation; specified boundary in the South China Sea
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons.

Terrain

Coastal plains rising to hills and mountains.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Indian Ocean (0 m)
Highest: Gunung Kinabalu 13,451 ft (4,100 m)

Natural Resources

Tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron ore, natural gas, bauxite.

Land use

Arable land	5%
Permanent crops	18%
Other	77%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Flooding, landslides, forest fires.

Environment - current issues

Air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions; water pollution from raw sewage; deforestation; smoke/haze from Indonesian forest fires.

Geography Note

Strategic location along Strait of Malacca and southern South China Sea.

Demographics

Population

22,662,365 (July 2002

)

Age structure

0-14 years:	34.1%	Male: 3,974,532	Female: 3,753,407
15-64 years:	61.6%	Male: 6,995,451	Female: 6,969,435
65 years and over:	4.3%	Male: 424,776	Female: 544,764

Growth Rate

1.91% (2002)

Life Expectancy

71.39 years
Female: 74.21 years
Male: 68.75 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$9,000 (2001)

Infant Mortality

19.66 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.07 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.78 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.01 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)
Note: Does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal immigrants from other countries in the region.

Economy & Trade

Malaysia, a middle-income country, transformed itself from 1971 through the late 1990s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. Growth is almost exclusively driven by exports - particularly of electronics - and, as a result Malaysia was hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the Information Technology (IT) sector in 2001. GDP in 2001 grew only 0.3% due to an estimated 11 percent contraction in exports, but a substantial fiscal stimulus package has mitigated the worst of the recession and the economy grew by 2 to 3 percent in 2002 as the Asian economy slightly rebounded. Kuala Lumpur's healthy foreign exchange reserves and relatively small external debt make it unlikely that Malaysia will experience a crisis similar to the crisis of 1997, but the economy remains vulnerable to a more protracted downturn in the U.S., the E.U., and Japan, top export destinations and key sources of foreign investment. Malaysia is predicting GDP growth of 5.7 percent in 2003, but much depends on the outcome of the Iraqi-U.S. situation. A favorable outcome (e.g., reasonable oil prices, political stability) would push Malaysian growth towards 6.3 percent by the end of 2004. A major improvement in high-tech/telecom could push growth even higher and bring back the prosperity of the pre-1997 economy.

Unemployment

3.7% (2001)

Inflation Rate

1.5% (2001)

Industries

Peninsular Malaysia: rubber and oil palm processing and manufacturing, light manufacturing industry, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging and processing timber; Sabah: logging, petroleum production; Sarawak: agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, logging.

Exports

US$94.4 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$76.9 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$200 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

US 20%, Singapore 17%, Japan 14%, Hong Kong 4.5%, Netherlands 4.5%, China 4%, Thailand 4% (2001)

Top Import Partners

Japan 20%, US 17%, Singapore 13%, Taiwan 5%, China 4%, Germany 4%, Thailand 4% (2001)

Top Exports

Electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals

Top Imports

Electronics, machinery, petroleum products, plastics, vehicles, iron and steel and iron and steel products, chemicals

Debt - external

US$44.7 billion (2001)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8:30a.m. to 5:30p.m.	Saturday 8:30a.m. to 1p.m.
Retail	10a.m. to 10p.m. for larger stores and department stores	Slightly shorter hours on the weekend.
Banks	Most states: Monday to Friday 9:30a.m. to 4p.m. Saturday 9:30a.m. to 11:30a.m. Closed Sundays. Kedah, Kelantan & Terengganu: Saturday to Wednesday 9:30a.m. to 4p.m. Thursday 9:30a.m. to 11:30a.m. Closed Friday, and closed first Saturday of the month.	Closed
Government	8a.m. to 4:15p.m.	Saturday 8a.m. to 12:30p.m.

Note: There is a gradual move toward a five-day, 40-hour workweek..

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Chinese New Year¹	February 1 to 3	January 22 to 24	February 9
Festival of Sacrifice (Hari Raya Haji)²	February 12	February 2	January 21
Awal Muharram	March 15	March 15	March 15
Good Friday³	April 18	April 9	March 25
Labor Day	May 1	May 1	May 1
Vesak Day (Buddha Purnima, Parinirvana)*¹	May 1	May 19	May 8
National Day	August 31	August 31	August 31
Deepavali*²	October 25	November	November
Start of Ramadan*³	October 27	October 15	October 4
End of Ramadan (Hari Raya Puasa)**¹	November 26	November 14	November 3
Christmas Day**²	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Celebrations denoting the beginning of the New Year based on the exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and phases of the moon according the the Chinese calendar. Holidays can last up to five days.
²	Culmination of the Haj or Holy Pilgrimage.
³	A Christian observance marking the anniversary of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Takes place the Friday before Easter Sunday.
*¹	Buddhist celebration commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and entry into Nirvana of Gautama Buddha. Dates are determined by the first full moon in May.
*²	Diwali, (Divali, or Deepavali), the Festival of Lights. Brought to Guyana by indentured servants from India, in 1853, Diwali is the celebration of light versus dark. Participants rejoice over the fabled the rescue of Lakshmi, Goddess of Light, from the demon, King Bali; and the return of Lord Rama from exile. Diwali is celebrated on the darkest night of the month of Kartic according to the Hindu calendar, falling somewhere in October or November.
*³	Ramadan (the month of fasting) begins with the first appearance of the new moon in the ninth month of the lunar Islamic Hijra calendar, and lasts 30 days. Dates for the start of Ramadan will vary from country to country, depending on the first appearance of the moon.
¹	Feasting that officially marks the end of Ramadan, and commonly lasts for three days.
**²	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press