Malaysia: A country rich in water resources, receives a high rainfall
The Compendium of Environment Statistics (CES) presents statistics on environment for the period 2012-2016/2017 namely air, water (inland and marine), land and urban/human settlements. The compilation of the statistics includes environmental information, impacts of human activities on the environment and actions taken to minimise the impact. The data are obtained from various agencies.
Malaysia is a country rich in water resources as it receives a high rainfall. In 2016, Kuching station recorded the highest annual rainfall of 5,423.0 mm with an increase of 877.5 mm as compared to 2015 (4,545.5 mm). Meanwhile, the lowest annual rainfall was recorded at Temerloh station with 1,397.8 mm in 2016 (2015: 1,193.2 mm).
In addition, Malaysia also experienced a warm and humid climate in 2016 where the lowest temperature was recorded at Cameron Highland station (16.2ºC) while the highest temperature was recorded at Jerantut station (34.2ºC). These readings increased as compared to 2015 where the lowest temperature recorded was 15.9ºC (Cameron Highland) and the highest temperature recorded was 33.8ºC (Temerloh).
Permanent Reserved Forests (PRF) play a role in controlling excessive water run-off and in containing water. In 2016, 12.8 million hectares of Malaysia’s total area was PRF area. 0.7 million hectares of the PRF area was peat swamp forest and 0.6 million hectares was mangrove forest.
Demand for clean water resources increase in tandem with population growth (32.0 million people in 2017). In 2016, the volume of total production of water supplied has increased by 377 million liters per day (MLD) to 16,536 MLD as compared to 2015. 95.7 per cent of Malaysia population were served with piped water in which 97.2 per cent was urban population and 93.5 per cent was rural population in 2016.
In general, the rise in population contributed to the increase of demand for food and goods. In 2017, marine fish landings are estimated at 1,590.2 thousand tonnes. Meanwhile, a total of 445,401 thousand tonnes (freightweight) of cargoes in 2016 were throughput by ports in Malaysia.
For more information, please visit https://www.dosm.gov.my
THE OFFICE OF CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
28 December 2017
Ho Mei Kei
Public Relation Officer
Strategic Communication and International Division
Department of Statistics, Malaysia
Tel : +603-8885 7942
Fax : +603-8888 9248
Email : mkho[at]stats.gov.my