Country · Asia
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in South-Eastern Asia. Its capital city is Kuala Lumpur. About 31.5 million people live there, in an area of 330 803 square kilometres.
Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia's capital, but the government works in Putrajaya, a city built for the purpose.
Picture credit: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0) · Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0) · Marcin Konsek (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Marcin Konsek (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Malaysia?
Malaysia lies in South-Eastern Asia, on the continent of Asia.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 278 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 4 675 km long.
It shares a border with 3 countries: Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand.
How big is Malaysia?
Malaysia covers 330 803 square kilometres.
That is about 8 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 67th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 95.3 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Malaysia?
About 31.5 million people live in Malaysia.
That is the 44th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Malay.
They pay with the Malaysian ringgit (RM).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 71 years.
The land of Malaysia
The land in Malaysia sits on average 538 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 4 675 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 234 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Malaysia different?
A dish the country is known for: Nasi lemak, Satay and Laksa.
Websites from here often end in .my.
Malaysia and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 4 live in Malaysia.
It takes up about 0.25 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Asia it is the 20th largest of 46 countries, and the 18th most populated.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Malaysia and its neighbours
Indonesia, its largest neighbour, is about 5.8 times bigger.
Indonesia has more people: 267.7 million against 31.5 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 5 live wild in Malaysia: Tiger, Orangutan, Saltwater crocodile, King cobra and Reticulated python.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Malaysia?
The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Malaysia?
About 31.5 million people live in Malaysia, which makes it the 44th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Malaysia?
Malaysia borders Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand — 3 neighbours in total.
How big is Malaysia?
Malaysia covers 330 803 square kilometres, making it the 67th largest country in the world. That is about 8 times the size of Switzerland.
Which continent is Malaysia in?
Malaysia is in Asia, in the part called South-Eastern Asia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
Last checked: · How these pages are made