constitutional monarchy note: nominally headed by paramount ruler (commonly referred to as the King) and a bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house; all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government; powers of state governments are limited by federal constitution; under terms of federation, Sabah and Sarawak retain certain constitutional prerogatives (e.g., right to maintain their own immigration controls)
Independence date
25 June 1991 (from Yugoslavia)
31 August 1957 (from UK)
Religions
Catholic 57.8%, Muslim 2.4%, Orthodox 2.3%, other Christian 0.9%, unaffiliated 3.5%, other or unspecified 23%, none 10.1% (2002 census)
Muslim 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8% (2000 census)
Languages
Slovenian 91.1%, Serbo-Croatian 4.5%, other or unspecified 4.4% (2002 census)
Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai note: in East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan
Exports
manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food
electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals
External Debt
$61,230,000,000 $
$87,810,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
euros (EUR) per US dollar - 0.67 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), tolars per US dollar - 190.85 (2006), 192.71 (2005), 192.38 (2004) note: Slovenia adopted the euro as its currency on 1 January 2007
ringgits (MYR) per US dollar - 3.33 (2008 est.), 3.46 (2007), 3.6683 (2006), 3.8 (2005), 3.8 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
1.700%
2.030%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
5
1
Location
Central Europe, eastern Alps bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Austria and Croatia
Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam
Area
20,273 km sq
329,847 km sq
Coastline
47 km
4,675 km
Climate
Mediterranean climate on the coast, continental climate with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys to the east
tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons
