Matchup file

Malaysia vs Thailand

126 shared metrics.

MalaysiaLeads in 62

vs126 shared

ThailandLeads in 64

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Thailand leads by 2 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

Malaysia

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Name origin: devised in the early 19th century by British geographers.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Malaysia is split by the South China Sea: one part on the Malay Peninsula, another on Borneo.

Britannica

Thailand

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Kingdom of Thailand.

CIA 2026

Identity

Name origin: the name means "Land of the Thai," referring to the local population.

CIA 2026

Analysis

Thailand leads in 64 of 126 shared metrics, while Malaysia leads in 62.

Malaysia's Capital Elevation is 32.0x that of Thailand (66 m vs 2.0 m).

Malaysia's Unemployment Rate is 4.5x that of Thailand (3.8% vs 0.69%).

Malaysia's Doctors (per 1,000) is 3.3x that of Thailand (2.3 per 1k vs 0.54 per 1k).

Malaysia's McDonald's Outlets per Million People is 3.3x that of Thailand (10.11 per 1M people vs 2.4 per 1M people).

Malaysia's Youth Unemployment Rate is 1.6x that of Thailand (11.95% of youth labor force vs 4.5% of youth labor force).

Key Comparisons

Capital ElevationMalaysia leads

Malaysia

66 m

Thailand

2.0 m

Unemployment RateMalaysia leads

Malaysia

3.8%

Thailand

0.69%

Doctors (per 1,000)Malaysia leads

Malaysia

2.3 per 1k

Thailand

0.54 per 1k

McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)Malaysia leads

Malaysia

10.11 per 1M people

Thailand

2.4 per 1M people

Youth Unemployment RateMalaysia leads

Malaysia

11.95% of youth labor force

Thailand

4.5% of youth labor force

Shipping TrafficMalaysia leads

Malaysia

27.29M

Thailand

10.50M

All Metrics

Capital Elevation

Malaysia

66 m

Thailand

2.0 m

3200% higher

Unemployment Rate

Malaysia

3.8%

Thailand

0.69%

452% higher

Doctors (per 1,000)

Malaysia

2.3 per 1k

Thailand

0.54 per 1k

333% higher

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Malaysia

10.11 per 1M people

Thailand

2.4 per 1M people

329% higher

Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)

Youth Unemployment Rate

Malaysia

11.95% of youth labor force

Thailand

4.5% of youth labor force

164% higher

Shipping Traffic

Malaysia

27.29M

Thailand

10.50M

160% higher

Firms Hit by Power Outages

Malaysia

22.32% of firms

Thailand

8.6% of firms

160% higher

Coal Electricity Share

Malaysia

44.56%

Thailand

17.83%

150% higher

CO2 Per Capita

Malaysia

8.2 t/person/yr

Thailand

3.7 t/person/yr

118% higher

High-Tech Exports (%)

Malaysia

58.63%

Thailand

28.31%

107% higher

GDP Growth Rate

Malaysia

5.1%

Thailand

2.5%

101% higher

Spirits Consumption

Thailand

Malaysia

0.11 L/person/yr

Thailand

4.9 L/person/yr

98% lower

Merchant Fleet Size

Malaysia

1.8K

Thailand

884

98% higher

Water Stress (%)

Thailand

Malaysia

1.2%

Thailand

25.53%

95% lower

Meat Consumption per Person

Malaysia

52.9 kg/person/yr

Thailand

27.37 kg/person/yr

93% higher

Irrigated Land

Thailand

Malaysia

4.4K km²

Thailand

64.2K km²

93% lower

Alcohol Consumption

Thailand

Malaysia

0.74 L/adult/yr

Thailand

8.0 L/adult/yr

91% lower

Water Withdrawal

Thailand

Malaysia

6.7 B m³

Thailand

57.31 B m³

88% lower

Seafood Consumption per Person

Malaysia

53.33 kg/person/yr

Thailand

28.48 kg/person/yr

87% higher

Tourism Revenue

Thailand

Malaysia

$3,386,000,000

Thailand

$15,360,000,000

78% lower

Comparison of Malaysia and Thailand across 126 metrics
				Winner
Capital Elevation	66 m	2.0 m	3200% higher	Malaysia
Unemployment Rate	3.8%	0.69%	452% higher	Malaysia
Doctors (per 1,000)	2.3 per 1k	0.54 per 1k	333% higher	Malaysia
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	10.11 per 1M people	2.4 per 1M people	329% higher	Malaysia
Youth Unemployment Rate	11.95% of youth labor force	4.5% of youth labor force	164% higher	Malaysia
Shipping Traffic	27.29M	10.50M	160% higher	Malaysia
Firms Hit by Power Outages	22.32% of firms	8.6% of firms	160% higher	Malaysia
Coal Electricity Share	44.56%	17.83%	150% higher	Malaysia
CO2 Per Capita	8.2 t/person/yr	3.7 t/person/yr	118% higher	Malaysia
High-Tech Exports (%)	58.63%	28.31%	107% higher	Malaysia
GDP Growth Rate	5.1%	2.5%	101% higher	Malaysia
Spirits Consumption	0.11 L/person/yr	4.9 L/person/yr	98% lower	Thailand
Merchant Fleet Size	1.8K	884	98% higher	Malaysia
Water Stress (%)	1.2%	25.53%	95% lower	Thailand
Meat Consumption per Person	52.9 kg/person/yr	27.37 kg/person/yr	93% higher	Malaysia
Irrigated Land	4.4K km²	64.2K km²	93% lower	Thailand
Alcohol Consumption	0.74 L/adult/yr	8.0 L/adult/yr	91% lower	Thailand
Water Withdrawal	6.7 B m³	57.31 B m³	88% lower	Thailand
Seafood Consumption per Person	53.33 kg/person/yr	28.48 kg/person/yr	87% higher	Malaysia
Tourism Revenue	$3,386,000,000	$15,360,000,000	78% lower	Thailand
Teen Birth Rate	6.0 per 1k	26.14 per 1k	77% lower	Thailand
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0.59 per 100k people	0.33 per 100k people	76% higher	Malaysia
Firms Making Informal Payments	4.9% of firms	17.57% of firms	72% lower	Thailand
Beer Consumption	0.51 L/person/yr	1.8 L/person/yr	71% lower	Thailand
Armed Forces Personnel	136.0K	455.0K	70% lower	Thailand
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	5.0K kWh/person	3.0K kWh/person	68% higher	Malaysia
Suicide Rate	5.7 per 100k	16.59 per 100k	66% lower	Thailand
Vehicles per 1,000 People	868.62 per 1k people	526.93 per 1k people	65% higher	Malaysia
Insufficient Physical Activity	40.6% of adults	24.64% of adults	65% higher	Malaysia
Credit Card Ownership	13.18% of adults	8.0% of adults	65% higher	Malaysia
GNI Per Capita	$11,650	$7,100	64% higher	Malaysia
All-Time Olympic Medals	15 medals	41 medals	63% lower	Thailand
Researchers	711.51 per 1M	1.9K per 1M	62% lower	Thailand
Renewable Energy (%)	7.5%	19%	61% lower	Thailand
Firms Asked for Bribes	3.8% of firms	9.9% of firms	61% lower	Thailand
Firms with Female Top Manager	25.54% of firms	64.84% of firms	61% lower	Thailand
Highest Elevation	4.1K m	2.6K m	60% higher	Malaysia
Corruption Perceptions Index	52 pts	33 pts	58% higher	Malaysia
Hypertension Prevalence	41% of adults	26% of adults	58% higher	Malaysia
Solar Electricity Share	2.2%	5.3%	58% lower	Thailand
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$38,779.28	$24,712.07	57% higher	Malaysia
Railway Length	1.9K km	4.1K km	55% lower	Thailand
Energy Use (Per Capita)	2.9K kg oil eq/person	1.9K kg oil eq/person	55% higher	Malaysia
Obesity Rate	22.4%	14.51%	54% higher	Malaysia
Land Border Length	2.7K km	5.7K km	52% lower	Thailand
Population	34.91M	70.03M	50% lower	Thailand
Elderly Population (%)	7.7%	15.36%	50% lower	Thailand
Political Corruption Index	0.32	0.64	49% lower	Thailand
Forest Coverage (%)	57.72%	38.69%	49% higher	Malaysia
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	16.19 µg/m³	31.01 µg/m³	48% lower	Thailand
Youth Population (%)	21.79%	14.75%	48% higher	Malaysia
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	1.6% of GDP	3.1% of GDP	48% lower	Thailand
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	51.84 per 100k	97.9 per 100k	47% lower	Thailand
Coastline Length	4.7K km	3.2K km	45% higher	Malaysia
Road Traffic Death Rate	13.9 per 100k	25.4 per 100k	45% lower	Thailand
Scientific Publications	26.5K	18.5K	43% higher	Malaysia
Birth Rate	14.05 per 1k	9.8 per 1k	43% higher	Malaysia
Agricultural Land (%)	26.09%	43.8%	40% lower	Thailand
Education Spending (% GDP)	3.5% of GDP	2.5% of GDP	39% higher	Malaysia
Land Area	328.6K km²	510.9K km²	36% lower	Thailand
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	3.7% of GDP	2.7% of GDP	36% higher	Malaysia
Electric Generating Capacity	37.22M kW	55.97M kW	34% lower	Thailand
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	8.0 days/yr	6.0 days/yr	33% higher	Malaysia
Women in Senior Management	23.22% of managers	34.91% of managers	33% lower	Thailand
Women in Parliament (%)	13.51%	19.4%	30% lower	Thailand
Inflation Rate	1.8%	1.4%	29% higher	Malaysia
Protected Land (%)	13.3%	18.4%	28% lower	Thailand
Death Rate	5.8 per 1k	8.1 per 1k	28% lower	Thailand
Health Spending (% GDP)	3.9% of GDP	5.4% of GDP	27% lower	Thailand
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	6.0 sites	8.0 sites	25% lower	Thailand
Border Neighbors	3.0	4.0	25% lower	Thailand
Population Density	106.91 /km²	140.35 /km²	24% lower	Thailand
Median Age	30.1 years	39.7 years	24% lower	Thailand
Health Spending Per Capita	$458.22	$369.98	24% higher	Malaysia
Urban Population (%)	76.92%	61.87%	24% higher	Malaysia
Inequality (Gini)	40.7	33.5	21% higher	Malaysia
Big Mac Price	$3.39	$4.3	21% lower	Thailand
GDP (Nominal)	$422,227,005,428.69	$526,517,658,841.68	20% lower	Thailand
Broadband Access (%)	13 per 100 people	16 per 100 people	19% lower	Thailand
Electoral Democracy Index	0.50	0.42	19% higher	Malaysia
Food Waste per Person	209.53 kg/person/yr	176.25 kg/person/yr	19% higher	Malaysia
R&D Spending (% GDP)	0.95% of GDP	1.2% of GDP	18% lower	Thailand
Tax Revenue (% GDP)	12.56% of GDP	15.26% of GDP	18% lower	Thailand
Smoking Rate	22%	19.2%	15% higher	Malaysia
Infant Mortality	6.8 per 1k births	8.0 per 1k births	15% lower	Thailand
Milk Consumption per Person	25.28 kg/person/yr	29.35 kg/person/yr	14% lower	Thailand
University Enrollment Rate	38.5%	44.98%	14% lower	Thailand
Liberal Democracy Index	0.35	0.31	13% higher	Malaysia
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	140 per 100 people	161 per 100 people	13% lower	Thailand
Hospital Beds (per 1,000)	2.0 per 1k	2.3 per 1k	13% lower	Thailand
Child Mortality	8.1 per 1k births	9.2 per 1k births	12% lower	Thailand
Women's Political Empowerment	0.77	0.69	12% higher	Malaysia
Fertility Rate	1.7 children/woman	1.6 children/woman	12% higher	Malaysia
Renewable Energy (%)	8.3%	7.4%	12% higher	Malaysia
Foreign Patents	6.7K	7.4K	10% lower	Thailand
Air Passengers	46.70M	51.92M	10% lower	Thailand
Electricity Carbon Intensity	601.97 gCO2/kWh	545.74 gCO2/kWh	10% higher	Malaysia
Internet Users (%)	98.02%	90.87%	8% higher	Malaysia
Military Spending	0.99% of GDP	1.1% of GDP	8% lower	Thailand
Mobile Money Accounts	44.5% of adults	41.68% of adults	7% higher	Malaysia
Airports	100	106	6% lower	Thailand
Digital Payments Used	77.47% of adults	82.75% of adults	6% lower	Thailand
Average Weekly Work Hours	44.7 hrs/week	42.53 hrs/week	5% higher	Malaysia
Adult Literacy Rate	95.77%	91.1%	5% higher	Malaysia
Life Evaluation Score	6.0 pts	6.3 pts	5% lower	Thailand
Forest Area	189.6K km²	197.7K km²	4% lower	Thailand
Total CO2 Emissions	295.95 Mt CO2e	283.81 Mt CO2e	4% higher	Malaysia
Human Development Index	0.82	0.80	3% higher	Malaysia
Dependency Ratio	41.89% of working-age pop.	43.09% of working-age pop.	3% lower	Thailand
Tobacco Use Prevalence	16.9% of adults	17.4% of adults	3% lower	Thailand
Sanitation Access (%)	96.02%	99.35%	3% lower	Thailand
Government Debt (% GDP)	64.3% of GDP	62.2% of GDP	3% higher	Malaysia
Domestic Patents	883	867	2% higher	Malaysia
Exports (% GDP)	71.34% of GDP	70.05% of GDP	2% higher	Malaysia
Imports (% GDP)	66.02% of GDP	66.7% of GDP	1% lower	Thailand
Can Raise Emergency Money	89.37% of adults	88.56% of adults	1% higher	Malaysia
Electricity Generation	198.22 TWh	199.55 TWh	1% lower	Thailand
Time Zones Count	2.0 time zones	2.0 time zones	equal	Malaysia
Wind Electricity Share	0%	1.8%	ranked lower	Thailand
Electricity Access (%)	100%	100%	equal	Malaysia
Life Expectancy	76.7 years	76.4 years	equal	Malaysia
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0 per 1M people	0 per 1M people	ranked higher	Malaysia
Lowest Elevation	0 m	0 m	ranked higher	Malaysia
Official Languages Count	1.0	1.0	equal	Malaysia
Freedom of Expression Index	0.59	0.59	equal	Thailand
All-Time Olympic Gold Medals	0 gold medals	11 gold medals	ranked lower	Thailand

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Malaysia Thailand

Analysis

Thailand leads in 64 of 126 shared metrics, while Malaysia leads in 62.

Malaysia's Capital Elevation is 32.0x that of Thailand (66 m vs 2.0 m).

Malaysia's Unemployment Rate is 4.5x that of Thailand (3.8% vs 0.69%).

Malaysia's Doctors (per 1,000) is 3.3x that of Thailand (2.3 per 1k vs 0.54 per 1k).

Malaysia's McDonald's Outlets per Million People is 3.3x that of Thailand (10.11 per 1M people vs 2.4 per 1M people).

Malaysia's Youth Unemployment Rate is 1.6x that of Thailand (11.95% of youth labor force vs 4.5% of youth labor force).

Key Comparisons

Capital ElevationMalaysia leads

Malaysia

66 m

Thailand

2.0 m

Unemployment RateMalaysia leads

Malaysia

3.8%

Thailand

0.69%

Doctors (per 1,000)Malaysia leads

Malaysia

2.3 per 1k

Thailand

0.54 per 1k

Malaysia

10.11 per 1M people

Thailand

2.4 per 1M people

Youth Unemployment RateMalaysia leads

Malaysia

11.95% of youth labor force

Thailand

4.5% of youth labor force

Shipping TrafficMalaysia leads

Malaysia

27.29M

Thailand

10.50M

Capital Elevation

66 m

2.0 m

Unemployment Rate

3.8%

0.69%

Doctors (per 1,000)

2.3 per 1k

0.54 per 1k

10.11 per 1M people

2.4 per 1M people

Youth Unemployment Rate

11.95% of youth labor force

4.5% of youth labor force

Shipping Traffic

27.29M

10.50M

Firms Hit by Power Outages

22.32% of firms

8.6% of firms

Coal Electricity Share

44.56%

17.83%

CO2 Per Capita

8.2 t/person/yr

3.7 t/person/yr

High-Tech Exports (%)

58.63%

28.31%

GDP Growth Rate

5.1%

2.5%

Spirits Consumption

0.11 L/person/yr

4.9 L/person/yr

Merchant Fleet Size

1.8K

884

Water Stress (%)

1.2%

25.53%

Meat Consumption per Person

52.9 kg/person/yr

27.37 kg/person/yr

Irrigated Land

4.4K km²

64.2K km²

Alcohol Consumption

0.74 L/adult/yr

8.0 L/adult/yr

Water Withdrawal

6.7 B m³

57.31 B m³

Seafood Consumption per Person

53.33 kg/person/yr

28.48 kg/person/yr

Tourism Revenue

$3,386,000,000

$15,360,000,000

Malaysia vs Thailand

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What matters for both sides

Malaysia

Thailand

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Capital Elevation

Unemployment Rate

Doctors (per 1,000)

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Youth Unemployment Rate

Shipping Traffic

Firms Hit by Power Outages

Coal Electricity Share

CO2 Per Capita

High-Tech Exports (%)

GDP Growth Rate

Spirits Consumption

Merchant Fleet Size

Water Stress (%)

Meat Consumption per Person

Irrigated Land

Alcohol Consumption

Water Withdrawal

Seafood Consumption per Person

Tourism Revenue

Teen Birth Rate

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

Firms Making Informal Payments

Beer Consumption

Armed Forces Personnel

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

Suicide Rate

Vehicles per 1,000 People

Insufficient Physical Activity

Credit Card Ownership

GNI Per Capita

All-Time Olympic Medals

Researchers

Renewable Energy (%)

Firms Asked for Bribes

Firms with Female Top Manager

Highest Elevation

Corruption Perceptions Index

Hypertension Prevalence

Solar Electricity Share

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

Railway Length

Energy Use (Per Capita)

Obesity Rate

Land Border Length

Population

Elderly Population (%)

Political Corruption Index

Forest Coverage (%)

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

Youth Population (%)

Current Account Balance (% of GDP)

ATMs per 100,000 Adults

Coastline Length

Road Traffic Death Rate

Scientific Publications

Birth Rate

Agricultural Land (%)

Education Spending (% GDP)

Land Area

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

Electric Generating Capacity

Minimum Paid Vacation Days

Women in Senior Management

Women in Parliament (%)

Inflation Rate

Protected Land (%)

Death Rate

Health Spending (% GDP)

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Border Neighbors

Population Density