Statistical information Malaysia 1992

Malaysia in the World

Malaysia - Introduction 1992

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Background: Malaysia was created in 1963 through the merging of Malaya (independent in 1957) and the former British Singapore both of which formed West Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak in north Borneo which composed East Malaysia. The first three years of independence were marred by hostilities with Indonesia. Singapore seceded from the union in 1965.

Malaysia - Geography 1992

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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 329,750 km²
Land: 328,550 km²
Comparative: slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries: 2,669 km; Brunei 381 km, Indonesia 1,782, Thailand 506 km

Coastline: 4,675 km; Peninsular Malaysia 2,068 km, East Malaysia 2,607 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation, specified boundary in the South China Sea
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes:

involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with
China, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; State of Sabah claimed by the Philippines; Brunei may wish to purchase the Malaysian salient that divides Brunei into two parts; two islands in dispute with
Singapore

Climate: tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons

Terrain: coastal plains rising to hills and mountains

Elevation

Natural resources: tin, crude oil, timber, copper, iron ore, natural gas, bauxite

Land use

Land use:

arable land: 3%; permanent crops: 10%; meadows and pastures
NEGL%; forest and woodland 63%; other 24%; includes irrigated 1%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography

Malaysia - People 1992

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Population: 18,410,920 (July 1992), growth rate 2.4% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Malaysian(s; adjective - Malaysian

Ethnic groups: Malay and other indigenous 59%, Chinese 32%, Indian 9%

Languages:

Peninsular Malaysia - Malay (official); English, Chinese dialects, Tamil; Sabah - English, Malay, numerous tribal dialects, Mandarin and Hakka dialects predominate among Chinese; Sarawak - English, Malay,
Mandarin, numerous tribal languages

Religions:

Peninsular Malaysia - Malays nearly all Muslim, Chinese predominantly Buddhists, Indians predominantly Hindu; Sabah - Muslim 38%,
Christian 17%, other 45%; Sarawak - tribal religion 35%, Buddhist and
Confucianist 24%, Muslim 20%, Christian 16%, other 5%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 29 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: subject to flooding; air and water pollution
Current issues note:

strategic location along Strait of Malacca and southern South
China Sea

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 27 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 71 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 3.6 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 78% (male 86%, female 70%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment

Malaysia - Government 1992

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Country name
Conventional long form: none

Government type:

Federation of Malaysia formed 9 July 1963; constitutional monarchy nominally headed by the paramount ruler (king) and a bicameral Parliament;
Peninsular Malaysian states - hereditary rulers in all but Melaka, where governors are appointed by Malaysian Pulau Pinang Government; powers of state governments are limited by federal Constitution; Sabah - self-governing state, holds 20 seats in House of Representatives, with foreign affairs, defense, internal security, and other powers delegated to federal government; Sarawak - self-governing state within Malaysia, holds 27 seats in House of Representatives, with foreign affairs, defense, internal security, and other powers delegated to federal government

Capital: Kuala Lumpur

Administrative divisions:

13 states (negeri-negeri, singular - negeri) and 2 federal territories* (wilayah-wilayah persekutuan, singular - wilayah persekutuan); Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Labuan*, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan,
Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Terengganu,
Wilayah Persekutuan*

Dependent areas

Independence: 31 August 1957 (from UK)

National holiday: National Day, 31 August (1957)

Constitution: 31 August 1957, amended 16 September 1963 when Federation of Malaya became Federation of Malaysia

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

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 21
House of Representatives:

last held 21 October 1990 (next to be held by
August 1995); results - National Front 52%, other 48%; seats - (180 total)
National Front 127, DAP 20, PAS 7, independents 4, other 22; note - within the National Front, UMNO got 71 seats and MCA 18 seats

Executive branch: paramount ruler, deputy paramount ruler, prime minister, deputy prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament (Parlimen) consists of an upper house or Senate (Dewan Negara) and a lower house or House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

APEC, AsDB, ASEAN, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-15, G-77, GATT,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT,
INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Abdul MAJID Mohamed; Chancery at 2,401 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008; telephone (202) 328-2,700; there are Malaysian Consulates General in Los Angeles and New York
US:

Ambassador Paul M. CLEVELAND; Embassy at 376 Jalan Tun Razak, 50,400
Kuala Lumpur (mailing address is P. O. Box No. 10,035, 50,700 Kuala Lumpur); telephone 60 (3) 248-9,011; FAX 60 (3) 242-2,207

Diplomatic representation

Flag description

: fourteen 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 fourteen-pointed star; the crescent and the star are traditional symbols of Islam; the design was based on the flag of the US

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage

Malaysia - Economy 1992

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Economy overview: During the period 1988-91 booming exports helped Malaysia continue to recover from the severe 1985-86 recession. Real output grew by 8.8% in 1989, 10% in 1990, and 8.6% in 1991, helped by vigorous growth in manufacturing output, further increases in foreign direct investment - particularly from Japanese and Taiwanese firms facing higher costs at home - and increased oil production. Malaysia has become the world's third-largest producer of semiconductor devices (after the US and Japan) and the world's largest exporter of semiconductor devices. Inflation has remained low; unemployment has stood at 6% of the labor force; and the government has followed prudent fiscal/monetary policies. The country is not self-sufficient in food, and some of the rural population subsist at the poverty level. Malaysia's high export dependence leaves it vulnerable to a recession in the OECD countries or a fall in world commodity prices.
GDP: exchange rate conversion - $48.0 billion, per capita $2,670; real growth rate 8.6% (1991 est.)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products

Industries

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 18% (1990; accounts for 40% of GDP

Labor force: 7,258,000 (1991 est.)
Organized labor: 640,000; 10% of total labor force (1990)

Labor force

Unemployment rate: 5.8% (1991 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $12.2 billion; expenditures $14.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.2 billion (1991 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year
Peninsular Malaysia: 3,209 km
Sabah: 1,569 km
Sarawak: 2,518 km

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $35.4 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: electrical manufactures, crude petroleum, timber, rubber, palm oil, textiles
Partners: Singapore, US, Japan, EC

Imports: $38.7 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
Commodoties: food, crude oil, consumer goods, intermediate goods, capital equipment, chemicals
Partners: Japan, US, Singapore, Germany, UK

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: ringgits (M$) per US$1 - 2.6930 (January 1992), 2.7501 (1991), 1.7048 (1990), 2.7088 (1989), 2.6188 (1988), 2.5196 (1987)

Malaysia - Energy 1992

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Electricity
Production: 5,600,000 kW capacity; 16,500 million kWh produced, 940 kWh per capita (1990)
Production Peninsular Malaysia: natural rubber, palm oil, rice
Production Sabah: mainly subsistence, but also rubber, timber, coconut, rice
Production Sarawak: rubber, timber, pepper; there is a deficit of rice in all areas; fish catch of 608,000 metric tons in 1987

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita

Malaysia - Communication 1992

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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions

Malaysia - Military 1992

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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: exchange rate conversion - $2.4 billion, about 5% of GDP (1992 budget)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups

Malaysia - Transportation 1992

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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

115 total, 108 usable; 33 with permanent-surface runways; 1
with runways over 3,659 m; 7
with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 18
with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 1,307 km; natural gas 379 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine:

167 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,653,633
GRT/2,444,393 DWT; includes 1 passenger-cargo, 1 short-sea passenger, 64 cargo, 27 container, 2 vehicle carrier, 2 roll-on/roll-off, 1 livestock carrier, 37 petroleum tanker, 5 chemical tanker, 6 liquefied gas, 21 bulk

Civil air: 53 major transport aircraft

Ports and terminals

Malaysia - Transnational issues 1992

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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs:

transit point for Golden Triangle heroin going to the US,
Western Europe, and the Third World

Malaysia
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