Happy Malaysia Day!

Just to have it on record here, today, September 16th is Malaysia Day.

Malaysia was formed on September 16, 1963, 53 years ago, when the former British colonies of Singapore and the North Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaya.

Two years later, Singapore left to become an independent nation by herself.

Below are some facts about Malaysia courtesy of World Facts..

Geography of Malaysia

Location:
Southeastern Asia, peninsula and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam

Coordinates:
2 30 N, 112 30 E

Area:
total: 329,750 sq km
water: 1,200 sq km
land: 328,550 sq km

Area comparative:
slightly larger than New Mexico

Land boundaries:
total: 2,669 km
border countries: Brunei 381 km, Indonesia 1,782 km, Thailand 506 km

Coastline:
4,675 km (Peninsular Malaysia 2,068 km, East Malaysia 2,607 km)

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation; specified boundary in the South China Sea
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM

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

Terrain:
coastal plains rising to hills and mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Gunung Kinabalu 4,100 m

Natural resources:
tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron ore, natural gas, bauxite

Natural hazards:
flooding, landslides, forest fires

Environment current issues:
air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions; water pollution from raw sewage; deforestation; smoke/haze from Indonesian forest fires

Geography - note:
strategic location along Strait of Malacca and southern South China Sea


Population of Malaysia

Population:
25,274,132 (July 2008 est.)  - Today, population is close to 30 million.

Age structure:
0-14 years: 32.6% (male 4,093,859/female 3,862,730)
15-64 years: 62.6% (male 7,660,680/female 7,613,537)
65 years and over: 4.7% (male 509,260/female 645,792)

Median age:
24.1 years

Growth rate:
1.78%

Infant mortality:
17.16 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 72.5 years
male: 69.8 years
female: 75.38 years

Fertility rate:
3.04 children born/woman

Nationality:
noun: Malaysian(s)
adjective: Malaysian

Ethnic groups:
Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, Indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8%

Religions:
Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; note - in addition, Shamanism is practiced in East Malaysia

Languages:
Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 88.9%
male: 92.4%
female: 85.4%