Malaysia Information / Malaysia Health Insurance

Malaysia, located in Southeastern Asia peninsula bordering Thailand and the northern part of Borneo Island, used to be many different English colonies in Southeastern Asia during the 18th and 19th century. During World War 2 these colonies were occupied by Japanese forces, after World War 2 these separate colonies formed the Federation of Malaya which further gained independence from the British in 1957. The name Malaysia was later adopted in 1963, when former British colonies, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, joined the federation. The first few years of Malaysia’s history were marred with Communist Insurgency, Indonesian confrontation, Philippine claims to Sabah and Singapore’s declaration of independence form Malaysia. A 22 year term served by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamed helped successfully diversify the Malaysian economy from a previously raw material exporter to a wide range of manufacturing, tourism and services economy.

Whenever you travel to a new country it can be daunting and because of this it is often important to have some background information on your destination. Because of this we have provided a general outline of Malaysia below. Please be advised that information contained in this page is subject to change without prior warning or knowledge, and as such you should consult an expert for the most accurate details.

Malaysia Information

Official Name: Malaysia

Capital city: Kuala-Lumpur

Location: Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia bordering Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.

Size: Malaysia is approximately 329,750 sq km’s; in comparison this is slightly bigger than Vietnam.

Climate: Tropical climate with seasonal monsoons

Population: Malaysia has an approximate population 25.7 million.

Life Expectancy: The average life expectancy for a Malaysian citizen is 73.2 years of age

Major Illness: There is a high risk of catching bacterial diarrhea, dengue fever and malaria. There have also been confirmed cases of the new H5N1 avian influenza and possesses negligible risk with extremely rare cases being contracted by locals and visitors alike.

Ethnicities: Ethnicities present in Malaysia include the following; Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8%

Languages: Bahasa Malaysia is the official language, with English, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi and Thai being other major spoken languages.

Languages: The de facto official language in the UK is English. The majority of the population will only speak this language.

Religion: 60.4% of the population is Muslim with 19.4 % being Buddhist, 9.4% Christian, 6.3% Hindu, 2.6% traditional Chinese religions and other or unknown 1.5%.

Government: Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy in which all final legislative decisions are made by the king.

Head of State: Mizan Zainal Abidin is the current head of state in Malaysia

Head of Government: Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Economy: The Malaysian economy is a middle income economy which since the 1970’s has transformed itself from a raw materials exporter into a multi sector emerging economy. Since his ascension to prime minister in 2003, Prime Minister Abdullah has been able to secure investments from powerful overseas high technology industries, medical technology companies and pharmaceutical producers thus helping to strengthen the once weak Malaysian economy. The Malaysian government continues to strive to wean the economy off relying heavily on exports by its continued endeavors to boost local demand. Despite its continued efforts the Malaysian economy still relies heavily on its exports, particularly its electronics and oil production industries. It has not been all bad however as high oil prices during 2007-2008 significantly bolstered the Malaysian economy, leading to much profit in the annual budget for this period. Malaysia un-pegged its dollar, the ringgit, from the USD in 2005. Since then the Ringgit has seen an average annual appreciation of 6% against the USD.

GDP: The Malaysian GDP has an approximate purchasing parity of $386.6 billion USD

Malaysia Health Insurance

For more information about traveling to Malaysia, international health insurance plans that we can offer there, or to receive a free customized quote, please contact one of our dedicated advisors today.