Land use: arable land: 5.48% permanent crops: 17.61% other: 76.91% (2001)

Irrigated land:
3,650 sq km (1998 est.)

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

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

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

People Malaysia

Population:
23,953,136 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 33% (male 4,067,006/female 3,837,758)
15-64 years: 62.4% (male 7,488,367/female 7,447,047)
65 years and over: 4.6% (male 490,334/female 622,624) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 23.92 years
male: 23.32 years
female: 24.54 years (2005 est.)