Quick facts

Location
Located in South East Asia, Malaysia covers about 330,000 sq km. The Federation of Malaysia comprises Peninsular Malaysia (or West Malaysia), and the states of Sarawak and Sabah in the island of Borneo. Its neighbouring countries are Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia.

Capital city
The capital city of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur.

Time difference
UTC+8 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Government
Parliamentary Democracy.

GDPs

Nominal GDP	$177,342 million (4th quarter 2008)
Per capita (GDP) income	$27,674 (3rd quarter 2008)

Administrative divisions

•	13 states (negeri) Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, and Terengganu.
•	One federal territory (Wilayah Persekutuan) with three components, city of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya.

Population
Approximately 27,730,000 people (2008)

Religions
Islam is the official religion of the federation. However, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Sikh and Christianity are freely practiced as well as other tribal and minority religions.

Ethnicity
Malays and indigenous people make up the majority at 60% of total population followed by Chinese (28%), Indians (8%) and other ethnicities (4%).

Languages
Bahasa Malaysia is the official language whilst other widely spoken languages include English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foo Chow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Thai, Iban and Kadazan.

Political background
Malaysia gained independence in 1957 and the Federation of Malaysia was formed in 1963. Malaysia has always been a democratic country, from the day it became independent until present day. Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak is the sixth and current Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Economic achievements
The Malaysian economy has gone through tremendous changes over the past 30 years. It has evolved from an economy that is based on agriculture and mining and moving towards a knowledge-based one. Today, the manufacturing industry, principally electronics and electrical products, is the key driver of economic growth.

Malaysia's trade policy emphasizes greater integration with the world economy and the country has established its position as a global trading player. The Malaysian Government is actively developing its manufacturing activities, upgrading services delivery and multiplying human capital to support the continuous development towards a knowledge-based economy.