Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

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

@Malaysia:People

Population: 21,793,293 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35% (male 3,914,112; female 3,697,731)
15-64 years: 61% (male 6,655,506; female 6,642,073)
65 years and over: 4% (male 386,387; female 497,484) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.01% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 25.3 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 5.25 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)
note: does not reflect net flow of an unknown number of illegal
immigrants from other countries in the region

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 20.96 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 70.83 years
male: 68.22 years
female: 73.63 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.29 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Malaysian(s)
adjective: Malaysian

Ethnic groups: Malay and other indigenous 58%, Chinese 26%, Indian 7%,
others 9%

Religions: Islam, Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism;
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 of which are Iban and
Kadazan

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 83.5%
male: 89.1%
female: 78.1% (1995 est.)

@Malaysia:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Malaysia
former: Malayan Union

Data code: MY

Government type: constitutional monarchy
note: Malaya (what is now Peninsular Malaysia) formed 31 August 1957;
Federation of Malaysia (Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore) formed
9 J