Malaysia Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions; water pollution from raw sewage; deforestation; smoke/haze from Indonesian forest fires; endangered species; coastal reclamation damaging mangroves and turtle nesting sites

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 16.04 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 248.29 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 51.51 megatons (2020 est.)

Climate

tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons

Land use

agricultural land: 23.2% (2018 est.)

arable land: 2.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 19.4% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0.9% (2018 est.)

forest: 62% (2018 est.)

other: 14.8% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 78.7% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.87% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 1.57% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0.02% of GDP (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: intermediate (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever

water contact diseases: leptospirosis

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 12,982,685 tons (2014 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 2,271,970 tons (2016 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 17.5% (2016 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 1.342 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 1.641 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 2.505 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

580 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Malaysia on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Malaysia 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Malaysia 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.