Language

Official language
Malay 80%, English 20%

T-index
0.46%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
Manglish, Chinese, Dusun and Kadazan, Bajau, Murut, Lun, Bruneian, Rungus, Bisaya, Iranun, Bawang, Sungai, Suluk and Sama

English
High proficiency (EF) – 28 of 112 countries/regions in the world- 3/24 position in Asia.

Demography

Capital: Kuala Lumpur
Currency:  Malaysian ringgit
Population: 32,78 m
Population density: 100 /km2

Economy

GDP: 372.7 billion USD (2021)
GDP per capita: 11,371.1 USD ‎(2021) ‎
Exports: $266 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 89.6% penetration, 29.55 million
Unemployment rate: 4.5% (2020)
Urbanisation: 76.61% (2019)
Literacy: 94.85% (2018)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numbering system and dot as decimal separator.

Date format: yyyy-mm-dd / dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 0060

Internet Data

Internet users
83% penetration, 26.69 million

Share of web traffic by device
55.62% mobile phones, 40.53% computers (laptops and desktops), 3.82% tablet devices, others 0.02%

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
24.56 Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
74.84 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population 127.7%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G) 97.3%

Most popular web search engines
Google (98.36%), Yahoo (0.79%), Bing (0.67%), Duckduckgo (0.07%), Baidu (0.05%), Ecosia (0.02%)

Most used social media
Facebook (77.51%), Twitter (10.65%), Instagram (4.82%), Pinterest (3.63%),  YouTube (3.01%), Tumblr (0.2%)

Social statistics

Life expectancy
76.22 yrs (2020)

Healthcare expenditure
3.8% of GDP

Ethnicity
The 3 main ethnic groups generally work well together but from time to time certain problems arise due to their totally contrasting natures. Malays are usually suspicious of Chinese Malaysians and Indians. Malaysians of Chinese descent tend to be more aggressive in their approach towards business and are frequently geared toward being successful. Malays, on the other hand, due to history from the colonial days are slower in their approach. In recent years though, Malays have achieved quite a bit through government programs. The New Economic Policy (NEP) grants special privilege to the Malays and through this policy the economic level of this group has risen, although it still not quite on par with the Chinese Malaysians. These privileges and the differences in economic wealth between the races have caused some friction but the NEP has been generally well accepted; the Chinese have also gained from the NEP.

Resentment does arise ocasionally: Malays will resent the Chinese worker especially if he or she is a hard worker. This is a rather difficult issue to understand but all these are related to local history. Perhaps reading the book called The Malay Dilemma by Dr Mahathir Mohammad will clear some of the unanswered questions. Indians are more likely to sit on the fence, not taking sides and leaning where the wind blows.

Class
Class exists in Malaysian society. For instance royalty is treated with deference here. People with titles are also treated differently although it is much resented by the bulk of the middle class population. Recent years have seen much upheaval about changing these class divisions but not much has changed in the meantime. This class division scenario is similar to Britain’s but the so-called higher classes, like royalty and people with titles, do not have public profiles.

Average age of the population
30.3 yrs (2020)

Gender
Malaysia is a male-dominated society, although it is well accepted that women and men have equal opportunities. Women make up about half the workforce in Malaysia and although in recent years women have made tremendous leaps in acquiring high-level jobs, most top executive posts are still held by men. Women are well treated and respected but in certain matters of women’s rights, Malaysia has still a long way compared to the West. At the workplace, women and men work well together and are remunerated based on their abilities and regardless of gender.

Religion
Malaysia is a multi-religious society. Islam is the official religion of this country but other religious beliefs are practiced freely. There are more churches than there are mosques. The four main religions are Islam (about half of the population), Buddhism (about 20%), Hinduism (13%) and Christianity. Catholics form the largest number of Christians, the bulk being in East Malaysia (on Borneo). Malaysians respect each other’s religious beliefs and do not tolerate forms of religious extremism in any of the religions. Most workplaces provide a small prayer room for Muslims since they pray 5 times a day and at least 2 of the prayer times fall during working hours. Regardless of their religion, Malaysians work well together and do not seem to have serious problems with their differences in religious backgrounds.