Number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia

Malaysia: Number of people moderately or severely food insecure was 5.90 million in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
5.90 million
Change on year
up 1.7%
World rank
45th
of 126 countries
All-time high
5.90 million
in 2023
All-time low
4.80 million
in 2016
Years of data
9
2015–2023

Number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia, 2015–2023

02.0M4.0M6.0M2015201920232015: 5.4M2016: 4.8M2017: 4.9M2018: 5.0M2019: 5.0M2020: 5.2M2021: 5.5M2022: 5.8M2023: 5.9M

Source: Our World in Data.

Analysis

In 2023, number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia stood at 5.90 million. That is the highest value across all 9 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.7% on the previous year and up 9.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia peaked at 5.90 million in 2023 and was at its lowest, 4.80 million, in 2016.

Malaysia ranks 45th of 126 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 5.02 million 4.80 million 5.40 million 5
2020s 5.60 million 5.20 million 5.90 million 4

Countries ranked near Malaysia

  1. 42 Japan 7.30 million compare
  2. 43 Cambodia 7.00 million compare
  3. 44 Ecuador 6.00 million compare
  4. 46 France 5.60 million compare
  5. 47 Togo 5.40 million compare
  6. 48 Senegal 5.30 million compare

See the full ranking of 126 places →

More reference data data for Malaysia

All data for Malaysia →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia?
Number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia was 5.90 million in 2023, according to Our World in Data.
What is the highest number of people moderately or severely food insecure recorded in Malaysia?
The highest recorded value was 5.90 million in 2023.
What is the lowest number of people moderately or severely food insecure recorded in Malaysia?
The lowest recorded value was 4.80 million in 2016.
How does Malaysia rank for number of people moderately or severely food insecure?
Malaysia ranks 45th out of 126 countries with data for 2023.
Is number of people moderately or severely food insecure rising or falling in Malaysia?
Over the last ten years it is up 9.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Malaysia data come from?
The figures come from Our World in Data, published as part of Number of people moderately or severely food insecure. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 9 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia. Statizoid, drawing on Our World in Data. Retrieved 22 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-people-moderately-or-severely-food-insecure/malaysia/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-people-moderately-or-severely-food-insecure/malaysia/">Number of people moderately or severely food insecure in Malaysia</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Number of people moderately or severely food insecure
Source
Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
126 places, 1,051 data points, 2015–2023
Last refreshed