Distillers Malaysia
A one-page guide to Malaysia for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Kuala Lumpur (federal administrative capital: Putrajaya)
- Official languages
- Malay
- Currency
- Malaysian ringgit (MYR)
- Time zone
- UTC+8
- Area
- 330,803 km²
People
- Population
- 36.0 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 1.2% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 77.4%
- Aged under 15
- 21.3%
- Aged 65 and over
- 8.0%
- Life expectancy
- 76.8 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$472.2 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$13,125 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 5.2% (2025)
- Inflation
- 1.4% (2025)
Climate
Equatorial, hot and humid all year, with a southwest monsoon April to October and a northeast monsoon October to February; average annual rainfall about 2,500 mm. No cold season, so ageing is fast and humidity control matters for storage.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal with restrictions (prohibited for Muslims; mostly banned for Muslims in Kelantan and Terengganu)
- Legal drinking age
- 21 for non-Muslims (raised from 18 on 16 October 2018); prohibited for Muslims
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 0.9 litres of pure alcohol (2019)
- What people drink
- Beer 73.0%, wine 6.4%, spirits 19.0%, other 1.7% (2019)
- Traditional drinks
- Tuak / lihing / tapai (Borneo rice wines, 5-20% ABV), Arak putih (locally distilled liquor, up to about 60%)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Alcohol in Malaysia (Wikipedia); Legal drinking age; Malaysia (Wikipedia); World Bank country data; WHO Global status report on alcohol and health 2024 (via Wikipedia table); UN Comtrade public API, HS 2208; Malaysia4u - alcohol guide; Australian submission on Malaysia FTA (alcohol exclusion). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.