General Information >>

   
Kuala Lumpur's skyline is dominated by the Petronas Twin Towers—headquarters of Malaysia's national petroleum company. The towers were the world's tallest buildings from 1996-2003.

Country: Malaysia
Region: Southern Asia
Continent: Asia





Malaysia Information and History

Comprising the territories of Malaya, Sarawak, and Sabah, Malaysia stretches from peninsular Malaysia to northeastern Borneo in Southeast Asia. Central mountains divide peninsular Malaysia (Malaya), separating the narrow eastern coast from the fertile western plains, with its sheltered beaches and bays. Sarawak and Sabah share the island of Borneo with Indonesia and Brunei, where swamps rise to jungle-covered mountains. Malays make up half the population, and almost all Malays are Muslims. Ethnic Chinese constitute a quarter of Malaysia's people, and Indians some 7 percent—both groups are concentrated on the peninsula's west coast.

In the mid-19th century the United Kingdom began importing Chinese to work the tin mines of Muslim sultanates on the Malay Peninsula; by the turn of the century new

Malaysia Flag and Fast Facts

Flag of Malaysia
Population
26,121,000

Capita
l
Kuala Lumpur; 1,352,000

Area
329,847 square kilometers
(127,355 square miles)

Language
Bahasa Melayu, English, Chinese dialects, other regional dialects and indigenous languages

Religion
Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Shamanist
Currency
Ringgit

Life Expectancy
73

GDP per Capita
U.S. $8,800

Literacy Percent
89

Data collected from National Geographic