FREE MALAYSIA TODAY. 17TH NOVEMBER: The restrictions imposed by the movement control order (MCO) and closure of the international border to stem the spread of Covid-19 drastically reduced demand for rail services in 2021, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia today.
Data from DoSM’s My Local Stats 2021 revealed the total number of passengers for rail services fell 42.9% to 78.5 million passengers last year compared to 137.4 million passengers in 2020.
All types of rail services showed a decrease in the number of passengers in 2021. The most badly affected was KLIA Express, recording the highest decrease of 86.3% to 53,300 passengers last year compared to 388,900 passengers in 2020.
This was followed by KTM Intercity, which fell by 70.8% to 304,000 passengers and KLIA transit with a decrease of 66.9% to 725,000 passengers in 2021.
In terms of employment, Malaysia’s labour market showed momentum in recovery with the labour force increasing 0.8% (129,400 persons) to 15.8 million persons, according to My Local Stats 2021.
The department said this was in line with the encouraging economic performance following the recovery measures taken by the government under the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
The labour force participation rate (LFPR) increased by 0.2% to 68.6% (2020: 68.4%).
Klang, Selangor and Beluran, Sabah recorded the highest LFPR at the district level of 77.9% respectively followed by Petaling, Selangor (77.8%) and Seberang Perai Selatan, Penang (77.5%).
In terms of demography, the report said Malaysia’s total population in 2021 was estimated at 32.6 million, including 2.6 million non citizens. In terms of ethnicity, 69.6% were Bumiputera, Chinese (23%), Indians (6.7%) and others (0.7%).
According to mid-year population estimates based on the population and housing census 2020, Petaling, Selangor was the district with the highest population at 2.32 million followed by Johor Bahru, Johor (1.72 million) and Ulu Langat, Selangor (1.39 million).
Based on housing statistics, the number of living quarters recorded in 2020 were 9.61 million based on population and housing census 2020. At the district level, Petaling, Selangor has the highest number of living quarters in 2020 which were 679,812 units followed by Kuala Lumpur (634,639 units) and Johor Bahru, Johor (610,314 units).
In terms of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, the report listed GDP at constant price at RM1.39 trillion, GDP growth at 3.1% and GDP per capita at RM47,439.
For the monthly household gross income, the median income was RM5,209 while the mean was RM7,089.