Malaysia 🇲🇾

Malaysia is a country in Asia with a population of 33,938,221. Its capital is Kuala Lumpur. The official currency is MYR, and the main languages are Malay.

Quick facts

Capital: Kuala Lumpur
Continent: Asia
Population: 33,938,221
Area: 330,803 km²
Density: 103 people per km²
Currency: MYR
Languages: Malay
ISO code: MY

Where Malaysia sits

Malaysia 🇲🇾 is one of 48 countries in Asia, with its capital at Kuala Lumpur. It covers 330,803 square kilometres — 67th in the world — and is home to about 33,938,221 people, 45th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Malaysia compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Malaysia sits closest to Peru and Yemen. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Vietnam and Finland.

At 103 people per square kilometre it is somewhat above the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Malay is an official language in 3 countries here, among them Brunei and Singapore. The MYR is used by Malaysia and no one else.

To see Malaysia next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, or KL, is the capital, while many government offices are in Putrajaya nearby. KL grew up where the Gombak and Klang rivers meet. The flag looks a little like the US flag, but with a yellow moon and star in the blue corner.

The flag of Malaysia: red, white, blue and yellow

🇲🇾 The flag is 14 red and white horizontal stripes, with a dark blue corner holding a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star. The flag is called Jalur Gemilang, 'Stripes of Glory'. The 14 stripes and the 14 points of the star stand for the 13 states and the federal government, the crescent is a symbol of Islam, and yellow is the royal colour.

Region and neighbours

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia in two parts, Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo, separated by the South China Sea. It shares land borders with 3 countries: Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.

Thailand 🇹🇭 — capital Bangkok
Indonesia 🇮🇩 — capital Jakarta
Brunei 🇧🇳 — capital Bandar Seri Begawan

Three facts about Malaysia

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004.
Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, about 4,095 m high, is Malaysia's highest mountain, and Kinabalu Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Malaysia is made up of 13 states and three federal territories.

Sources: Wikipedia: Malaysia, Wikipedia: Flag of Malaysia, Wikipedia: Kuala Lumpur, Wikipedia: Petronas Towers, Wikipedia: Kinabalu Park, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Malaysia

Asian capitals quiz — match Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur
Asian flags quiz — spot the Malaysia flag among its neighbours

Quizzes that include Malaysia

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Malaysia those are:

Asia map quiz — place it on a blank map
Asia flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
Asia capitals quiz — match it to Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Malaysia, plus the answer quizzes most often try to trick you with
Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Nearby countries

Afghanistan 🇦🇫 — capital Kabul
Armenia 🇦🇲 — capital Yerevan
Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 — capital Baku
Bahrain 🇧🇭 — capital Manama
Bangladesh 🇧🇩 — capital Dhaka
Bhutan 🇧🇹 — capital Thimphu
Brunei 🇧🇳 — capital Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia 🇰🇭 — capital Phnom Penh
China 🇨🇳 — capital Beijing
Georgia 🇬🇪 — capital Tbilisi
India 🇮🇳 — capital New Delhi
Indonesia 🇮🇩 — capital Jakarta

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Malaysia flag?

The flag of Malaysia is 14 red and white horizontal stripes, with a dark blue corner holding a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star. The flag is called Jalur Gemilang, 'Stripes of Glory'. The 14 stripes and the 14 points of the star stand for the 13 states and the federal government, the crescent is a symbol of Islam, and yellow is the royal colour.

Which countries border Malaysia?

Malaysia shares land borders with Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.