Malaysia

Population: 22,229,040 (July 2001 est.)

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

Background: Malaysia was created in 1963 through the merging of Malaya (independent in 1957) and the former British Singapore, both of which formed West Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak in north Borneo, which composed East Malaysia. The first three years of...

Currency: Malaysian Ringgit (MYR, MYR (3.38 = US$1))

Data from CIA World Factbook. Click on CIA link for more. Click on map or flag for larger images.