Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in Malaysia
Malaysia: Income inequality vs. GDP per capita was 0.4067 in 2021. ▼ Falling
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in Malaysia, 1984–2021
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2021, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Malaysia stood at 0.4067. That is the lowest value across all 14 years on record.
That represents a change of down 1.2% on the previous year and down 6.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Malaysia peaked at 0.4915 in 1997 and was at its lowest, 0.4067, in 2021.
That places Malaysia 22nd out of 120 countries with data for 2021, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 14 years of available data.
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in Malaysia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 0.485 | — |
| 1987 | 0.4704 | -3.0% |
| 1989 | 0.4617 | -1.9% |
| 1992 | 0.4765 | +3.2% |
| 1995 | 0.4852 | +1.8% |
| 1997 | 0.4915 | +1.3% |
| 2003 | 0.4642 | -5.6% |
| 2006 | 0.4475 | -3.6% |
| 2008 | 0.4548 | +1.6% |
| 2011 | 0.4355 | -4.2% |
| 2013 | 0.4135 | -5.1% |
| 2015 | 0.4107 | -0.7% |
| 2018 | 0.4118 | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 0.4067 | -1.2% |
Malaysia compared with similar countries
- Malaysia's 0.4067 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.3588, 1.1× the median. (35 countries reporting)
- Malaysia's 0.4067 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.3443, 1.2× the median. (11 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.4724 | 0.4617 | 0.485 | 3 |
| 1990s | 0.4844 | 0.4765 | 0.4915 | 3 |
| 2000s | 0.4555 | 0.4475 | 0.4642 | 3 |
| 2010s | 0.4179 | 0.4107 | 0.4355 | 4 |
| 2020s | 0.4067 | 0.4067 | 0.4067 | 1 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
More poverty & inequality data for Malaysia
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 2 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.55 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 3,524 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate -1.48 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 12.57 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 12.6% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Malaysia?
- Income inequality vs. gdp per capita in Malaysia was 0.4067 in 2021, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 0.4915 in 1997.
- What is the lowest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4067 in 2021.
- How does Malaysia rank for income inequality vs. gdp per capita?
- Malaysia ranks 22nd out of 120 countries with data for 2021.
- Is income inequality vs. gdp per capita rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 6.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malaysia data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality vs. GDP per capita. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality.