During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945.

In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957.

Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation.

The first several years of the country's history were marred by Indonesian efforts to control Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession from the Federation in 1965.

During the 22-year term of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials, to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 24,821,286 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure: 0-14 years: 32.2% (male 4,118,086/female 3,884,403) 15-64 years: 62.9% (male 7,838,166/female 7,785,833) 65 years and over: 4.8% (male 526,967/female 667,831) (2007 est.)

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Median age: total: 24.4 years male: 23.8 years female: 25 years (2007 est.)

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Population growth rate: 1.759% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate: 22.65 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Death rate: 5.05 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

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Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population note: does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal immigrants from other countries in the region (2007 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.007 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.789 male(s)/female total population: 1.012 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

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Infant mortality rate: total: 16.62 deaths/1,000 live births male: 19.26 deaths/1,000 live births female: 13.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

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Life expectancy at birth: total population: 72.76 years male: 70.05 years female: 75.65 years (2007 est.)

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Total fertility rate: 3.01 children born/woman (2007 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.4% (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 52,000 (2003 est.)

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HIV/AIDS - deaths: 2,000 (2003 est.)

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Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations (2007)

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Nationality: noun: Malaysian(s) adjective: Malaysian

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Ethnic groups: Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8% (2004 est.)

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Religions: Muslim 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8% (2000 census)

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Languages: Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai note: in East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan

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Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 88.7% male: 92% female: 85.4% (2000 census)

Malaysia, a middle-income country, transformed itself from 1971 through the late 1990s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. Growth was almost exclusively driven by exports - particularly of electronics. As a result, Malaysia was hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the information technology (IT) sector in 2001 and 2002. The economy grew 4.9% in 2003, notwithstanding a difficult first half, when external pressures from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Iraq War led to caution in the business community. Growth topped 7% in 2004 and 5% per year in 2005-06.

As an oil and gas exporter, Malaysia has profited from higher world energy prices, although the rising cost of domestic gasoline and diesel fuel forced Kuala Lumpur to reduce government subsidies, contributing to higher inflation. Malaysia "unpegged" the ringgit from the U.S. dollar in 2005 and the currency appreciated 6 percent against the dollar in 2006. Healthy foreign exchange reserves and a small external debt greatly reduce the risk that Malaysia will experience a financial crisis over the near term similar to the one in 1997.

The economy remains dependent on continued growth in the U.S., China, and Japan - top export destinations and key sources of foreign investment. The government presented its five-year national development agenda in April 2006 through the Ninth Malaysia Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for the allocation of the national budget from 2006-10. The plan targets the development of higher value-added manufacturing and an expansion of the services sector.

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GDP (purchasing power parity): $313.2 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP (official exchange rate): $132.3 billion (2006 est.)

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GDP - real growth rate: 5.9% (2006 est.)

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GDP - per capita (PPP): $12,800 (2006 est.)

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GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 8.3% industry: 48.1% services: 43.6% (2006 est.)

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Labor force: 10.73 million (2006 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 13% industry: 36% services: 51% (2005 est.)

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Unemployment rate: 3.5% (2006 est.)

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Population below poverty line: 5.1% (2002 est.)

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Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.4% highest 10%: 39.2% (2003 est.)

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Distribution of family income - Gini index: 46.1 (2002)

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Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.8% (2006 est.)

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Investment (gross fixed): 19.9% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Budget: revenues: $31.63 billion expenditures: $37 billion; including capital expenditures of $9.4 billion (2006 est.)

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Public debt: 46.7% of GDP (2006 est.)

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Agriculture - products: Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice; Sarawak - rubber, pepper, timber

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Industries: Peninsular Malaysia - rubber and oil palm processing and manufacturing, light manufacturing, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging, timber processing; Sabah - logging, petroleum production; Sarawak - agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, logging

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Industrial production growth rate: 5.8% (2006 est.)

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Electricity - production: 78.24 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - consumption: 72.71 billion kWh (2004)

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Electricity - exports: 50 million kWh (2004)

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Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004)

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Oil - production: 770,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

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Oil - consumption: 515,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

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Oil - exports: 611,200 bbl/day (2004)

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Oil - imports: NA bbl/day

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Oil - proved reserves: 3.1 billion bbl (2006 est.)

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Natural gas - production: 62.43 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - consumption: 32.97 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - exports: 29.46 billion cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

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Natural gas - proved reserves: 2.124 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

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Current account balance: $17.86 billion (2006 est.)

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Exports: $158.7 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Exports - commodities: electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals

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Exports - partners: US 18.8%, Singapore 15.4%, Japan 8.9%, China 7.2%, Thailand 5.3%, Hong Kong 4.9% (2006)

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Imports: $127.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

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Imports - commodities: electronics, machinery, petroleum products, plastics, vehicles, iron and steel products, chemicals

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Imports - partners: Japan 13.3%, US 12.6%, China 12.2%, Singapore 11.7%, Thailand 5.5%, South Korea 5.4%, Germany 4.4% (2006)

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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $82.3 billion (2006 est.)

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Debt - external: $57.77 billion (30 June 2006 est.)

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Currency (code): ringgit (MYR)

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Exchange rates: ringgits per US dollar - 3.6683 (2006), 3.8 (2005), 3.8 (2004), 3.8 (2003), 3.8 (2002)

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Fiscal year: calendar year