Malaysia Facts
| GEOGRAPHY | | | Location: | Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam | | Geographic coordinates: | 2 30 N, 112 30 E | | Map references: | Southeast Asia | | Area | total: 329,750 sq km
land: 328,550 sq km
water: 1,200 sq km | | Land boundaries: | total: 2,669 km
border countries: Brunei 381 km, Indonesia 1,782 km, Thailand 506 km | | Coastline: | 4,675 km (Peninsular Malaysia 2,068 km, East Malaysia 2,607 km) | | Climate: | tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons | | Terrain: | coastal plains rising to hills and mountains | | Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Gunung Kinabalu 4,100 m | | Natural resources: | tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron ore, natural gas, bauxite | | | | | PEOPLE | | | Population: | 25,274,132 (July 2008 est.) | | Median age: | 0-14 years: 31.8% (male 4,135,013/female 3,898,761)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 8,026,755/female 7,965,332)
65 years and over: 4.9% (male 548,970/female 699,302) (2008 est.) | | Birth rate: | 22.44 births/1,000 population (2008 est.) | | Death rate | 5.02 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.) | | Nationality: | noun: Malaysian(s)
adjective: Malaysian | | Ethnic groups: | Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, Indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8% (2004 est.) | | Religions: | Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; note - in addition, Shamanism is practiced in East Malaysia | | Languages: | Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai
note: in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan | | | | | GOVERNMENT | | | Country name: | conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Malaysia
former: Federation of Malaysia | | Government type: | constitutional monarchy | | Capital: | Kuala Lumpur
note: Putrajaya is referred to as administrative center not capital; Parliament meets in Kuala Lumpur
| | Administrative divisions: | 13 states (negeri-negeri, singular - negeri) Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, and Terengganu; and one federal territory (wilayah persekutuan) with three components, city of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya | | Independence: | 31 August 1957 (from UK) | | National holiday: | Independence Day/Malaysia Day, 31 August (1957) | | Legal system: | based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court at request of supreme head of the federation; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
| | Flag description: | 14 equal horizontal stripes of red (top) alternating with white (bottom); there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star; the crescent and the star are traditional symbols of Islam; the design was based on the flag of the US | | | | | ECONOMY | | | GDP (purchasing power parity): | $361.2 billion (2007 est.) | | GDP - real growth rate: | 6.3% (2007 est.) | | GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity $14,500 (2007 est.) | | GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 9.9%
industry: 45.3%
services: 44.8% (2007 est.) | | Budget: revenues: | revenues: $40.69 billion
expenditures: $46.7 billion (2007 est.) | | Public debt: | 41.6% of GDP (2007 est.) | | Agriculture - products: | Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice; Sarawak - rubber, pepper, timber | | 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: | $176.4 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) | | Exports - commodities: | electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals | | Exports - partners: | US 15.6%, Singapore 14.6%, Japan 9.1%, China 8.8%, Thailand 5%, Hong Kong 4.6% (2007) | | Imports: | $139.1 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) | | Imports - commodities: | electronics, machinery, petroleum products, plastics, vehicles, iron and steel products, chemicals | | Imports - partners: | Japan 13%, China 12.9%, Singapore 11.5%, US 10.8%, Taiwan 5.7%, Thailand 5.3%, South Korea 4.9%, Germany 4.6%, Indonesia 4.2% (2007) | | Currency code: | MYR | | Fiscal year: | calendar year | | | | | COMMUNICATIONS | | | Telephone system: | general assessment: modern system; international service excellent
domestic: good intercity service provided on Peninsular Malaysia mainly by microwave radio relay; adequate intercity microwave radio relay network between Sabah and Sarawak via Brunei; domestic satellite system with 2 earth stations; combined fixed-line and mobile cellular teledensity exceeds 110 per 100 persons
international: country code - 60; landing point for several major international submarine cable networks that provide connectivity to Asia, Middle East, and Europe; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean, 1 Pacific Ocean) (2007) | | Radio broadcast stations: | AM 35, FM 391, shortwave 15 (2001) | | Internet country code: | .my | | Internet users: | 15.868 million (2007) | | | | | TRANSPORTATION | | | Railways: | total: 1,890 km
standard gauge: 57 km 1.435-m gauge (57 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 1,833 km 1.000-m gauge (150 km electrified) (2006) | | Roadways: | total: 98,721 km
paved: 80,280 km (including 1,821 km of expressways)
unpaved: 18,441 km (2004) | | Waterways: | 7,200 km
note: Peninsular Malaysia 3,200 km, Sabah 1,500 km, Sarawak 2,500 km (2005) | | Airports: | 116 (2007), 36 with paved runways | | Ports and harbors: | Bintulu, Johor, Labuan, Lahad Datu, Lumut, Miri, George Town (Penang), Port Kelang, Tanjung Pelepas
|
Source: CIA Factbook
|
|
